This week, the EU’s AI Act officially came into effect — the world’s first comprehensive legal framework regulating artificial intelligence. It’s been years in the making, and you can feel the weight of it. But passing a law is one thing. Making it work in the real world is another.

The Act classifies AI systems by risk, bans the unacceptable ones, and sets strict transparency and accountability requirements for high-risk applications. It’s ambitious, and in many ways, it should be. We’re no longer talking about experimental tools — we’re talking about systems that can decide who gets a loan, who gets hired, and even who gets watched.