Final approval of ground-breaking EU AI Act
Summary
On May 21, 2024, the Council of the European Union (EU) announced the final approval of the landmark EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act). The AI Act is a first of its kind, sector-agnostic law with extra-territorial impact, regulating general-purpose AI models, imposing obligations regarding high-risk AI systems and low risk AI systems on developers, deployers and a wide range of other participants in the AI value chain (i.e. supply chain), and prohibiting certain AI systems. There will now be a staggered entry into force, with the provisions relating to prohibited AI systems applying from around December 2024 (six months after the publication of the AI Act in the Official Journal, which is expected to occur shortly). The obligations relating to GP AI models will apply from around June/July 2025, and most of the remaining provisions, including as to high-risk AI systems, from June/July 2026. See our recent alert for more information.
