Beyond the AI Act. Implementation challenges in EU AI regulation
With landmark instruments such as the GDPR and the AI Act, the European Union has established a global benchmark in technology regulation. Yet the real challenge lies in implementation. This talk will briefly introduce the main provisions of these regulations, while looking beyond the texts to the practical difficulties that regulators and AI companies now confront.
The Code of Practice on General Purpose AI and the latest guidelines from the European Commission are already shaping how providers and deployers must act, though not without controversy. The forthcoming implementation of the rules on high-risk AI systems raises particularly difficult questions for compliance, enforcement, and innovation. More broadly, the AI Act has drawn sustained criticism for its legal complexity and for the disproportionate burdens it may impose on innovators. In parallel, the application of the GDPR to AI remains fraught, despite the European Data Protection Board’s recent efforts to provide clarity through new guidance. The talk will conclude with reflections on what may come next, in particular the Digital Omnibus Package, and how it could reshape the EU’s evolving regulatory landscape for AI.
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