Effective Timeline of the EU’s AI Act

The AI Act imposes strict penalties for those who violate its provisions. The exact fine amount can depend on various factors, but it can be up to €35 million or 7% of the company’s global annual turnover for the preceding financial year (whichever is higher). The structured penalty system allows for effective enforcement of the regulation across all entities that are subject to it.

The AI Office is responsible for developing methods to assess general-purpose AI models and their relevant associated risks. It also plays a central role in developing and approving codes of practice for AI systems, ensuring their functionalities align with the AI Act and other regulatory requirements across the EU. 

The European Commission aims to enforce post-market monitoring of AI systems by continuously assessing and overseeing them after they’ve been placed on the market. The Commission has already issued guidelines that specify these post-market monitoring plans, ensuring the deployed AI systems can remain regulatory compliant after being placed on the market.

The AI Act explicitly bans such AI systems. The regulation has a tiered risk categorization framework. Under this framework, any AI system that can be used in social scoring or exploiting users’ biometric data to identify them based on their ethnicity, gender, political views, or any other trait is strictly prohibited to prevent any potential misuse of AI in critical areas such as employment, law enforcement​, education, or access to specific services.