The European Union's Artificial Intelligence Act — the world's first comprehensive legal framework governing AI systems — has entered full implementation, and its effects are being felt in engineering teams from San Francisco to Bangalore.
The Act, which classifies AI applications by risk level and imposes corresponding obligations on developers and deployers, is already functioning as a de facto global standard. Because most major technology companies operate in the EU market, designing separate "EU-compliant" and "global" versions of AI systems is economically impractical. Compliance with EU rules is simply becoming the baseline.
High-Risk Systems Under Scrutiny
The Act's most demanding requirements apply to "high-risk" AI applications — systems used in recruitment, credit scoring, law enforcement, healthcare, and critical infrastructure. These must now meet strict requirements for transparency, human oversight, accuracy documentation, and bias testing before deployment in EU markets.