The European Union's AI Act, which entered into force in August 2024, is the world's first comprehensive legal framework for artificial intelligence. It establishes a risk-based approach that will influence global AI regulation.
Risk Categories
The EU AI Act classifies AI systems into four risk levels:
- Unacceptable Risk (Banned) — social scoring by governments, real-time biometric surveillance in public spaces (with exceptions), manipulative AI targeting vulnerabilities, emotion recognition in workplaces and schools
- High Risk (Strict Requirements) — AI in critical infrastructure, education, employment, credit scoring, law enforcement, migration, and justice
- Limited Risk (Transparency) — chatbots, deepfakes, and AI-generated content require disclosure
- Minimal Risk (No Restrictions) — spam filters, video game AI, recommendation systems
High-Risk AI Requirements
High-risk systems must comply with extensive requirements:
- Risk Management System — ongoing identification and mitigation of risks
- Data Governance — training data must be relevant, representative, and error-free
- Technical Documentation — detailed records of system design, development, and testing
- Record-Keeping — automatic logging of system operations for traceability
- Transparency — users must understand AI system capabilities and limitations
- Human Oversight — meaningful human control over AI decisions
- Accuracy & Robustness — systems must perform consistently and resist manipulation
General-Purpose AI Models (GPAI)
Special provisions for foundation models like GPT-4 and Gemini:
- All GPAI — technical documentation, training data transparency, copyright compliance
- Systemic Risk GPAI (10^25 FLOPs threshold) — additional model evaluation, adversarial testing, incident reporting, and energy consumption tracking
Timeline & Enforcement
- February 2025: Banned practices provisions apply
- August 2025: GPAI and governance provisions apply
- August 2026: Full high-risk system requirements apply
- Fines up to €35 million or 7% of global annual turnover