Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744

The EU AI Act: What You Need to Know

The world's first comprehensive AI regulation is being enforced. Understand the requirements, find out which obligations already apply to your AI systems, and plan for the dates that follow.

Key dates

The Act applies in phases. These are the dates that matter.

  1. In force

    Prohibited practices

    The Article 5 bans on unacceptable-risk AI apply.

  2. In force

    General application

    Article 50 transparency duties apply; the AI Office and national authorities enforce.

  3. Upcoming

    Two new prohibitions

    Non-consensual intimate imagery and AI-generated child sexual abuse material are banned.

  4. Upcoming

    High-risk obligations

    Annex III systems, deferred from August 2026. Annex I products follow on August 2, 2028.

Risk classification

Four tiers, four very different sets of obligations.

Read the full risk classification guide
  1. Unacceptable risk

    Prohibited

    Social scoring, manipulative techniques, untargeted scraping of facial images. Banned outright under Article 5.

  2. High risk

    Strict requirements

    AI in hiring, credit scoring, healthcare, law enforcement. Requires risk management, documentation, human oversight and conformity assessment.

  3. Limited risk

    Transparency

    Chatbots, deepfakes, emotion recognition. Article 50 disclosure duties, in force since August 2, 2026.

  4. Minimal risk

    No new obligations

    Spam filters, AI in video games, recommendation systems. Voluntary codes of conduct only.

What you can do here

From “does this apply to us?” to the records that prove it.

01Free

AI Act Navigator

Seven questions, each cited to the article. Your risk tier, the dates that apply to you and your obligations by role, in three minutes. Save the result by email and get an alert when the law changes.

Check your AI system
02From €79

Evidence Kit

Five generated, article-cited documents: classification memorandum, Article 50 disclosures, AI usage policy, system inventory register and literacy plan. One-off payment, no account.

See the documents

Articles

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