The European Union's Artificial Intelligence Act comes into force, the world's first AI regulation

​The European Union's Artificial Intelligence Law has come into force, the world's first comprehensive regulation of artificial intelligence, marking an important step in regulating the application of artificial intelligence in the EU.

The new law, which came into effect on Thursday, stipulates that artificial intelligence (AI) systems such as chatbots must clearly inform users that they are interacting with machines, and AI technology providers must also ensure that synthetic audio, video, text and image content can be detected as AI-generated content, Xinhua reported.

In addition, the new law also prohibits businesses from using AI systems that pose a clear threat to users' fundamental rights.

Eu Internal Market Commissioner Breton described the bill as "an effective, proportionate and world-first AI framework".

For violations, the EU can impose fines of up to 7 percent of a company's annual global turnover.

Eu Member States have until 2 August 2025 to designate their respective national market surveillance and supervisory authorities.

The rules will be implemented in phases, with some coming into force six months or one year after the law comes into force, while most will come into force on August 2, 2026.

The European Commission proposed a draft law on Artificial Intelligence in April 2021. In December last year, the European Parliament, EU member states and the European Commission reached an agreement on the Artificial Intelligence Law.