EU AI Act
In plain wordsThe European Union's law on artificial intelligence, the first broad AI law anywhere: it bans some uses, sets strict checks for risky ones and puts duties on the makers of the biggest AI models.
Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence, the first comprehensive horizontal AI law. It applies to providers and deployers of AI systemsAI system, n.: A complete piece of technology that uses AI to do something, such as screening loan applications, driving a car or chatting with customers, including the AI model and the software around it. placed on the market or used in the EU, wherever they are established, and follows a risk-based approachrisk-based approach, n.: A way of regulating AI in which the strictness of the rules depends on how much harm a use could cause: bans for the worst uses, heavy checks for risky ones, little or nothing for the rest.. Prohibited practicesprohibited AI practices, n.: Uses of AI that the EU bans outright as too harmful — such as manipulating people, social scoring, and most live facial recognition by police in public places. are banned outright. High-risk systemshigh-risk AI system, n.: Under EU law, an AI system used where mistakes could seriously hurt people's safety or rights — in hiring, schooling, loans, policing, borders or products like medical devices — and which must therefore pass strict checks. — safety components of regulated products (Annex I) and uses listed in Annex III, such as hiring, credit, education, policing and migration — must meet requirements on risk management, data, documentation, logging, transparency, human oversighthuman oversight, n.: Keeping people able to watch, understand, question and, if necessary, stop or overrule an AI system, rather than letting it act unchecked., accuracy and robustness, and pass conformity assessmentconformity assessment, n.: The check, done by the maker or by an approved outside body, that a high-risk AI system meets the EU's legal requirements before it can be sold or used.. Chatbots, generators of synthetic content and some biometric systems carry transparency obligationstransparency obligations, n.: EU rules requiring that people be told when they are dealing with AI: chatbots must say they are bots, AI-made content must be marked, and deepfakes must be labeled.. Providers of general-purpose AI modelsgeneral-purpose AI model, n.: The EU's legal name for the large, adaptable AI models behind chatbots and similar tools: models that can turn their hand to many different jobs and be built into many other products. owe documentation and copyright duties, with added safety duties for models with systemic riskgeneral-purpose AI model with systemic risk, n.: The EU's label for the very largest and most capable AI models, whose failure or misuse could cause harm across society, so their makers must test them for dangers and report serious incidents.. Enforcement is split between national market surveillance authorities and the Commission's AI OfficeAI Office, prop. n.: The European Commission's team that oversees the EU AI Act, especially the rules for the largest AI models, and coordinates how the law is applied across Europe.; fines reach €35 million or 7% of worldwide annual turnover. Military, national-security and pure research uses are outside its scope.
Under the EU AI Act, our CV-screening tool counts as high-risk.
Origin
Proposed by the European Commission on 21 April 2021, after its 2020 White Paper on AI; the Parliament added rules for foundation models after ChatGPT's release, and a political agreement was reached on 8 December 2023. Published on 12 July 2024 and in force from 1 August 2024, it applies in stages: prohibitions and AI literacy from February 2025, general-purpose AI rules from August 2025, most other provisions from August 2026, and — after the 2026 Digital OmnibusDigital Omnibus, prop. n.: A European Union package, proposed in 2025, that simplified and delayed parts of its digital rules — above all pushing back the strictest requirements of the EU AI Act by more than a year. — high-risk obligations from December 2027 and August 2028.
Usage note
Its definition of an AI system follows the OECD AI PrinciplesOECD AI Principles, prop. n.: Guidelines for trustworthy AI that governments agreed through the OECD in 2019, the first such standard agreed between governments; many later laws and agreements borrowed from them.. It applies alongside, not instead of, the General Data Protection RegulationGeneral Data Protection Regulation, prop. n.: The European Union's main privacy law, in force since 2018, which controls how personal information is collected and used — including to train and run AI systems., product-safety and consumer law. Whether it will shape AI rules elsewhere — the Brussels effectBrussels effect, n.: The way European Union rules end up shaping products and laws worldwide, because global companies often find it simpler to follow the strictest big market's rules everywhere. — and whether the 2026 amendments weakened it remain debated.
Related
- risk-based approachrisk-based approach, n.: A way of regulating AI in which the strictness of the rules depends on how much harm a use could cause: bans for the worst uses, heavy checks for risky ones, little or nothing for the rest.
- high-risk AI systemhigh-risk AI system, n.: Under EU law, an AI system used where mistakes could seriously hurt people's safety or rights — in hiring, schooling, loans, policing, borders or products like medical devices — and which must therefore pass strict checks.
- prohibited AI practicesprohibited AI practices, n.: Uses of AI that the EU bans outright as too harmful — such as manipulating people, social scoring, and most live facial recognition by police in public places.
- general-purpose AI modelgeneral-purpose AI model, n.: The EU's legal name for the large, adaptable AI models behind chatbots and similar tools: models that can turn their hand to many different jobs and be built into many other products.
- AI OfficeAI Office, prop. n.: The European Commission's team that oversees the EU AI Act, especially the rules for the largest AI models, and coordinates how the law is applied across Europe.
- Digital OmnibusDigital Omnibus, prop. n.: A European Union package, proposed in 2025, that simplified and delayed parts of its digital rules — above all pushing back the strictest requirements of the EU AI Act by more than a year.
- General-Purpose AI Code of PracticeGeneral-Purpose AI Code of Practice, prop. n.: A voluntary rulebook, published by the EU in 2025, that makers of large AI models can sign to show they follow the EU AI Act's rules on transparency, copyright and safety.
- Brussels effectBrussels effect, n.: The way European Union rules end up shaping products and laws worldwide, because global companies often find it simpler to follow the strictest big market's rules everywhere.
Sources
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act). OJ L, 12.7.2024.
- Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 of 8 July 2026 amending Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (Digital Omnibus on AI). eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/1744/oj
Defined in law or standards
Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744; application dates Art. 113
Mentioned in
AI governanceAI governance, n.: The rules, institutions and habits that shape how AI is built and used — from laws and treaties to technical standards and a company's own review processes., AI regulationAI regulation, n.: Laws and binding government rules about artificial intelligence: what AI may be used for, what checks its makers must run, and what penalties apply when they break the rules., AI watermarkingAI watermarking, n.: Hiding an invisible signal in AI-generated text, images, audio or video so that software can later tell the content was made by AI — like a banknote's watermark, but undetectable to the eye., artificial intelligenceartificial intelligence, n.: Computer systems that do things we would normally credit to a thinking mind, such as holding a conversation, reading an X-ray or planning a route, and the field of research that builds them., environmental impact of AIenvironmental impact of AI, n.: The effects of AI on the planet: the electricity, water, materials and land used to make chips, build data centers and train and run models, and the pollution that results., facial recognitionfacial recognition, n.: Technology that identifies or checks who someone is by comparing a picture of their face with stored photos, used by phones, passport gates and police databases., frontier AIfrontier AI, n.: The most capable general-purpose AI systems of the moment — those at or beyond the leading edge — which governments single out for extra safety attention., general-purpose AI modelgeneral-purpose AI model, n.: The EU's legal name for the large, adaptable AI models behind chatbots and similar tools: models that can turn their hand to many different jobs and be built into many other products., high-risk AI systemhigh-risk AI system, n.: Under EU law, an AI system used where mistakes could seriously hurt people's safety or rights — in hiring, schooling, loans, policing, borders or products like medical devices — and which must therefore pass strict checks., open-source AIopen-source AI, n.: AI released, ideally with its code and details of its training data and not just the finished model, so that anyone may use, inspect, alter, share and even rebuild it. How open is open enough is debated., open-weight modelopen-weight model, n.: An AI model whose trained internal numbers are published for anyone to download and run on their own computers, even if the data and code used to make it stay private., text-to-speechtext-to-speech, n.: Technology that reads written text aloud in a computer-generated voice, used in screen readers, voice assistants, audiobooks and navigation apps., affective computingaffective computing, n.: Technology that tries to read people's emotions — from their faces, voices or words — or to display emotions of its own, like software that guesses your mood or a robot that seems to show feelings., AI applicationAI application, n.: A program or product that uses AI to do something useful for people, such as a translation app, a medical-scan checker or a coding assistant., AI auditAI audit, n.: An independent check of an AI system, or of the company using it, against agreed standards — for example, testing whether a hiring tool treats women and men fairly., AI incidentAI incident, n.: A real-world case in which an AI system, through a flaw, a breakdown or the way someone used it, ends up hurting people, property or rights, as in an injury, a wrongful arrest or a privacy breach., AI literacyAI literacy, n.: Knowing enough about AI to use it sensibly and judge it critically: what it can and cannot do, how it goes wrong, and how it affects people., AI OfficeAI Office, prop. n.: The European Commission's team that oversees the EU AI Act, especially the rules for the largest AI models, and coordinates how the law is applied across Europe., AI red linesAI red lines, n.: Limits on AI that would be forbidden worldwide no matter what — for example AI that copies itself without permission or controls nuclear weapons — which campaigners want governments to agree on., AI regulatory sandboxAI regulatory sandbox, n.: A supervised testing ground where companies can try out new AI with regulators watching and advising, before the product faces the full weight of the rules., AI surveillanceAI surveillance, n.: Using AI to watch, identify, track or profile people on a scale no team of humans could manage, for example by scanning camera feeds or analyzing phone and online data., AI systemAI system, n.: A complete piece of technology that uses AI to do something, such as screening loan applications, driving a car or chatting with customers, including the AI model and the software around it., AI whistleblower protectionsAI whistleblower protections, n.: Legal and company safeguards that protect employees of AI companies who report safety dangers or legal violations — to regulators or inside the company — from being fired, sued or otherwise punished., AI-generated content labelingAI-generated content labeling, n.: Marking text, images, audio or video as made by AI — with a visible notice, hidden data in the file, or both — so that people and platforms can tell synthetic content from real.