AI Governance: The Rules Are Coming

For a while, AI felt like the Wild West. Companies could build and deploy pretty much anything, and the rules hadn't caught up yet.

That's changing. And honestly, it's probably a good thing, even if it makes some things more complicated.

What's Actually Being Regulated

The EU has been leading the charge with their AI Act. The short version: they're categorizing AI systems by risk level and imposing different requirements based on how dangerous the application could be.

High-risk categories include things like:

• AI making hiring decisions
• AI in healthcare
• AI in law enforcement

If you're building in these areas, you'll need to document how your AI works, test it for bias, and be able to explain its decisions.

Why This Matters Even If You're Not in Europe

A lot of companies building AI tools serve global customers. If you want to sell in Europe, you follow European rules. So in practice, these regulations affect everyone.

Also, other countries are watching and likely to copy elements that work.

My Honest Take

I've seen enough AI fails to think some guardrails are needed. The question is whether the regulations will be sensible or create so much bureaucracy that only big companies can comply.

Early signs are... mixed. The EU rules are detailed and complicated. That's good for being thorough, but potentially bad for smaller companies who can't afford compliance teams.

What To Do About It

If you're building AI tools:

• Start documenting how your systems work now (you'll need to eventually)
• Think about bias testing before it's required
• Pay attention to what your specific industry is doing

If you're just using AI tools, know that the wild west era is ending. The tools you use in a few years will probably come with more oversight, which is probably fine.