Italy's Landmark AI Law: What It Does And Why The UK Should Pay Attention

Italy has become the first EU member state to pass a national artificial intelligence law which secured final parliamentary approval on 17 September 2025 and complements the EU AI Act. This domestic legislation follows on from Italy's "National AI Strategy" which, already back in 2020, highlighted that an ethical regulatory framework for AI must ensure transparency, accountability, and reliability in order to stimulate citizens' trust and engagement in a thriving AI ecosystem.

The law aims to set human‑centric guardrails around AI deployment, while encouraging innovation across the economy. Its mix of sectoral rules, criminal law updates, copyright clarifications, and institutional choices offers a playbook (and some cautionary tales) for other countries, including the UK as it calibrates its own path.