The EU AI Act has been in force in the EU since 2024: here is the full official version. However, from 2 August 2026 comes the main change and key challenge for businesses that develop or provide access to software and devices with AI: from that day, any individual or company (including a competitor) can officially lodge a complaint against them. Even if your business is located, say, in the US but your user base is in the EU, from 2 August 2026 a national market surveillance authority can investigate your AI-based systems against the rules already in effect and, if a breach is found, impose significant fines.
The most unpleasant part concerns who can be fined. It’s not just the supplier of the AI technology itself (be it American, Chinese or European), as many would like to believe. If you build a product on top of a third-party model (even by simply calling the OpenAI API) and offer it under your own name or brand, the letter of the law considers you the provider ("downstream provider") of that AI system, with a provider's obligations. And, most surprisingly for B2B businesses, your customers using your product in the course of their business fall under the scope of the law as deployers with a deployer's obligations.
Belitsoft provides senior AI developers who build and maintain AI systems while ensuring compliance with the European AI Regulation. Let's talk
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