The EU AI Act Is Here – Here's What It Means for Channel Partners

The EU AI Act, effective Thursday, is the first comprehensive regulation of artificial intelligence by a major regulator anywhere. It is designed so businesses across the EU have clear guidelines to help support their ethical AI adoption journey.

The EU AI Act assigns applications of AI to three risk categories. First, applications and systems that create an unacceptable risk, such as government-run social scoring of the type used in China, are banned. Second, high-risk applications, such as a CV-scanning tool that ranks job applicants, are subject to specific legal requirements. Lastly, applications not explicitly banned or listed as high risk are largely left unregulated.

But what does the introduction of the EU AI Act mean for channel partners? AI is a hot topic in the channel, with more partners developing use cases and deploying the technology internally. There will be costs involved related to both compliance and building potential practices serving customers, for example.

To understand the impact, we spoke with vendors and channel partners themselves. Most have welcomed the new regulation. Others are worried that compliance with the EU AI Act could put businesses at risk. On the plus side, there is an opinion that the Act will help counter fears around the unchecked rise of AI.

Related:Ex-OpenAI Board Members: More Guardrails Needed for Responsible AI

See the sideshow above to find out how the channel really feels about the new EU AI Act.