1. Temporal scope
The AI Act was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on July 12th 2024 and entered into force on this day. However, its provisions are designed to take effect only starting from February 2nd 2025, according to the following schedule.
· February 2nd 2025: provisions concerning prohibited AI systems and AI literacy take effect.
· August 2nd 2025: provisions concerning providers of general-purpose AI (GPAI) models take effect.
· August 2nd 2026: the majority of the provisions take effect, including those concerning AI systems contained in Annex III as well as those concerning AI systems mentioned in Article 50 i.e. AI systems designed for human interaction e.g. chatbots, GPAIs capable of generating audio, text, video, image contents and AI systems capable of biometric categorization and emotion recognition.
· August 2nd 2027: provisions concerning high risk AI systems contained in Annex I take effect.
2. Territorial scope
The AI Act’s territorial scope is very wide and designed to embrace most of the existing AI systems or model that in a way or another “touch” the EU.
Indeed, the AI Act is applicable when:
· The place of establishment or location of the deployer is within the EU.
· The AI system or model is placed on the market, put into service, imported or distributed in the EU, irrespective of whether the provider is established or located within the EU.
· The output of the AI system or model is used in the EU or affects persons located in the EU irrespective of whether the provider or deployer is established or located within the EU.
3. Personal scope
Without entering into the details of each obligation, it can generally be said that the AI Act applies at every stage of the distribution chain:
· Providers
· Deployers
· Provider’s representatives
· Importers
· Distributors
· Product manufacturers containing AI systems
Exceptions exist but they deserve a separate article.
4. Sanctions
The administrative fines imposed by the regulation are graduated and depend on the nature of the infringement or breaches.
The ceiling is set at the higher between 7% of the company’s worldwide annual turnover or 35,000,000 €.
