Pursuant to ‘trilogue’ negotiations among major institutions of the EU, an agreement on a proposed regulation with respect to artificial intelligence (“AI”) was arrived at in Brussels a few months ago, the text of which may be approved, published, and subsequently enter into force later this year. This is the world’s first comprehensive law on AI (the “AI Act”). According to the current draft, the AI Act should apply two years after its entry into force, likely from the second quarter of 2026.
The broad focus of this new law is a risk-based approach, based on an AI system’s capacity to cause harm. Compared to prior legislative proposals, additional elements of the current agreement include rules on high-impact general-purpose AI models that can cause systemic risk in the future, as well as on high-risk AI systems. The AI Act may set a global standard for AI regulation in other jurisdictions, just like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) did with respect to personal information. Moreover, similar to the GDPR, one of the most important effects of the AI Act will be its extraterritorial scope, involving obligations for non-EU businesses as well.
