EU AI Act

The EU AI Act, enacted in 2024, is the European Union’s comprehensive regulatory framework for artificial intelligence. It classifies AI systems into four risk tiers — Unacceptable, High, Limited, and Minimal — and imposes corresponding obligations on providers and deployers. Systems in the Unacceptable category, such as social scoring, real-time biometric surveillance, and subliminal manipulation, are prohibited outright.

A 2026 amendment added the non-consensual generation or distribution of AI-generated sexual images to the Unacceptable risk category. The Act applies to providers operating within the EU regardless of their geographic location, making it a de facto global compliance standard for AI products targeting European markets.