The EU AI Act does not switch on all at once. It entered into force on 1 August 2024 and phases in over three years. Knowing which deadline catches your business is the difference between a calm rollout and a scramble.
The phased timeline
Entry into force: 1 August 2024. Prohibited AI practices and the AI-literacy duty: 2 February 2025. Obligations for general-purpose AI models and the governance framework: 2 August 2025. The bulk of the Act — Article 50 transparency duties and the high-risk obligations for Annex III systems: 2 August 2026. High-risk AI embedded in products already covered by EU product-safety law (Annex I): 2 August 2027.
Which deadline catches most companies
For the typical SaaS company or online business, the date that matters is 2 August 2026. That is when the Article 50 transparency obligations apply — and almost every site with an AI chatbot, AI search, or AI-generated marketing content is touched by those. The high-risk regime is narrower and reaches fewer ordinary businesses, but the transparency rules are broad.
What to do before 2 August 2026
Build an inventory of the AI systems you deploy, classify each one against Article 50, add the user-facing disclosures where they apply, and keep dated proof. Treat it as an ongoing record rather than a one-off project: new tools get added to your stack constantly, and each one needs the same quick check.