EU AI Act (AI Regulation)
The EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) is the first comprehensive AI regulation in the world; it classifies AI systems by risk – unacceptable, high, limited and minimal – and imposes graduated obligations on providers and deployers alike.
In practice
Since February 2025, employees who operate AI systems or use their output have had to have sufficient AI literacy. The full obligations for high-risk systems, by contrast, have been postponed: on 29 June 2026 the EU Council gave final approval to the "Digital Omnibus on AI", which moves the deadline for standalone high-risk systems under Annex III from the original 2 August 2026 to 2 December 2027; for high-risk AI embedded in products under Annex I, the new date is 2 August 2028. Companies that only use AI tools rather than developing them should still know which AI applications they use and classify them by risk level.