Extract from Benjamin Joyner’s article “What Does Italy’s AI Law Mean for Developers and Deployers in Europe?”
In September, the Italian government passed Law 132, a sweeping national statute for the regulation of artificial intelligence.
The new law, which went into effect earlier this month, represents the first comprehensive legislation passed by a European Union member state to govern AI since the enactment of the EU AI Act in 2024.
While the specifics of Law 132 are important for AI developers and deployers operating in Italy, the passage of the law highlights a broader issue: a potential lack of uniform rules across the European Union’s single market. Such fracturing would add further complexity to an emerging global patchwork of laws and regulations as governments endeavor to keep up with AI development.
“We’re seeing regulation catch up with the technology faster than we have with any previous technology, whether that was social media or the web in general, with, for example, privacy,” said Freshfields partner Beth George. “Legislators are not in a wait-and-see moment. There’s a legislate-first moment.”
