The European Parliament today approved the AI Act, the first comprehensive legislative act in the world that regulates the field of AI.

The AI Act is expected to become valid in two months time, and from said date the implementation dates for enforcement will be counted: 6 months from the publication date of the law, the European Union countries will be required to forbid the use of AI tools that are considered as forbidden by the AI Act; a year after publication the directives concerning AI systems for general purposes will begin being enforced; and two years after publication the AI Act directives will become enforceable. It is very probable that we will see a similar effect to the one generated by the GDPR in 2018, and this will constitute a starting point for the creation of additional AI laws worldwide, with the AI Act serving as a standard. 

It should be noted that similarly to the GDPR, the scale of implementation may be quite extensive and will apply to Israeli companies as well that are active within the European Union, and the fines determined for breach of the AI Act directives are high, and can reach up to 35 million Euro or up to 7% of the annual world turnover.

We will continue to monitor and will update accordingly, and are at your service for any questions. 

You are invited to a Webinar officiated by our firm’s Law & Tech department, together with the Forum of Innovation, AI and LegalOps managed by Adv. Sigal Meged Rozen, which will deal with the anatomy of investigation: what to do when the regulator calls an organization in for investigation in the field of AI?

The webinar will provide applicable lessons and practical advice for legal counsels. For registration to the webinar press.

Kind regards,

Eyal Sage, Shir Shoshany-Katz, and the Law and Technology department team

It is hereby clarified that the above said does not constitute any reference to any specific circumstances and facts and should not be regarded as an opinion and/or legal advice concerning any concrete issue.

The stated in this document is general information only and does not constitute a legal opinion or legal advice and should not be used in any other way.