What Happened?
On 21 May 2024, the European Council gave its final approval to
the regulation laying down harmonised rules on artificial
intelligence (the "AI Act"), a
comprehensive legal framework designed to address the development,
placing on the market, putting into service and use of artificial
intelligence ("AI") systems in the
European Union (the "EU"). The AI Act
marks the EU's first attempt to regulate AI technologies.
After less than three years of legislative negotiations, the AI
Act has nearly doubled in volume from its initial proposal –
notably adding "general purpose AI models" as a new
category of regulated technologies – highlighting its
importance on the EU's agenda.
