Last week, Consulegis hosted a remarkable webinar about the impact of the EU AI Act on businesses and how to plan for it. I would like to thank all the attendees and my fellow presenters for making it a success. If you missed the webinar or want to watch it again, please click on the link below to access it at your convenience.
Watch The Full Webinar
While the EU Parliament adopted the EU AI Act on 13 March 2024 it is not yet law. It is likely to be mid-2026 before the Act comes fully into effect. That sounds a long way off. But I know from experience how quickly that time will go. The GDPR for example was adopted in 2016 and came into effect on 25 May 2018 and the organisations that did best were those that had spent significant time planning in advance of the GDPR coming into effect and mapped out their data flows and worked out what personal data they held.
Therefore I would strongly recommend taking time now to be compliant with the Act prior to it taking effect and ensuring you understand where your AI is going and what rules apply – is the territorial reach of your use or offering of AI products going to extend to the EU.
The Act a game changer that will regulate AI development, deployment and usage across the EU and which due to its extra-territorial reach will also reach beyond EU borders to encompass anyone dealing with AI products used in Europe. If your business is:
- “placing” (first making available),“making available” (supplying for distribution or use in the course of a commercial activity, whether for a fee or free of charge) or “putting into service” (supplying to a user) an AI system in the EU market; or
- making the outputs produced by an AI product available in the EU,
then your organisation will be caught by the Act.
What If Your Business Uses AI?
If your business will come within the scope of the Act you’ll need to ensure that your internal processes, procedures and broader compliance environments allow for the compliance with the AI Act. Seek out expert advice on what steps you need to take to stay on the right side of the law.
For any business, wherever they are based, if they are looking to do business globally involving AI systems, it will become more and more difficult to escape coming within the scope of regulation as more and more countries globally look to regulate AI. Therefore, those who take the initiative now to comply with the AI Act will be well-placed to meet the challenges of future AI Regulation.
To discuss any of the points raised in this article, please contact Ann-Maree Blake or fill in the form below.
