Mastering the EU AI Act: Your compliance roadmap

The EU AI Act is coming into force over the next two years – making now the right time to prepare, adapt, and lead. Crucially, the Act has a dual nature: on the one hand, it creates product responsibility obligations for developers, providers, and distributors, ensuring AI systems meet safety, transparency, and risk management standards throughout their lifecycle; on the other hand, it embeds ESG responsibilities for organisations, requiring sufficient, regularly updated training supported by management to maintain AI literacy and ethical use. While adapting to the Act may seem daunting, a systematic approach can make it manageable.

Step by step

To help organisations navigate the practical requirements of the EU AI Act, it is useful to break down the compliance journey into key focus areas. The following steps outline a high-level approach to ensure your AI systems and processes meet both the technical and organisational obligations set out by the Act. Each area highlights the core actions to prioritise, helping businesses manage risk, embed governance, and prepare for upcoming deadlines.

Step 1: Audit your AI inventory and risk-classify each system

Start by taking stock of all AI systems, tools, and use cases in your organisation. This “AI inventory” should include AI software you have developed in-house, third-party AI tools you use, and even experimental AI projects. For each system, determine which risk category it falls under as per the Act (unacceptable, high, limited, or minimal risk). This classification is crucial: it tells you what obligations apply. If you identify any AI that might be in the unacceptable risk category, that is a red flag – plan to withdraw or redesign those systems immediately. High-risk AI systems will require the most work (see step 4 below). Limited-risk systems will mostly need transparency measures, and minimal-risk ones mostly require awareness and proper application.

Step 2: Implement transparency measures for AI interactions

For AI applications that interact with people or generate outputs that people might consume, you need to build in transparency this year. This applies to what the Act deems limited-risk AI. Ensure that whenever an AI system is engaging a user, the user is informed they are dealing with AI. For example, if you use a chatbot for customer service, disclose its AI nature to earn user trust. Likewise, if your company publishes AI-generated content (text, images, video), develop a process to label such content as AI-generated. Generative AI systems should also be configured (or selected, if using a vendor) to prevent generation of illegal content and to respect intellectual property – in line with the Act’s requirements on data and copyright.

Step 3: Strengthen data and AI governance frameworks

Use the lead-up period to put in place a robust internal governance structure for AI. This means designating roles and responsibilities: for instance, appointing an AI compliance officer or committee, much like a data protection officer for GDPR. Establish company-wide AI policies or guidelines that align with the Act’s principles (e.g., a policy on ethical AI use, bias avoidance, etc.). Training programmes are a key part of this step – you should educate your teams about AI risks, the new legal requirements, and their responsibility in using AI ethically. If your business is deploying high-risk AI, ensure that the people using or overseeing those systems are trained in how to interpret AI outputs and can intervene when needed. Good governance also involves setting up processes for AI system procurement and channels for employees or users to report AI-related issues or biases.

Step 4: Meet the obligations for high-risk AI systems

If your risk assessment found high-risk systems, most of your compliance effort will focus here. By the 2026 deadline, these systems must meet strict requirements – including continuous risk management, unbiased data, clear documentation, human oversight, strong performance and cybersecurity, logging, post-market monitoring, conformity assessment with CE marking, and registration in the EU database. In short, compliance is a multidisciplinary effort involving technical work, governance processes, and possibly external audits. With the mid-2026 deadline approaching, it is critical to start these actions now.

By following these steps, businesses will not only meet their compliance obligations under the EU AI Act but also set themselves up to derive real value from AI.

Compliance: The opportunity waiting to be realised

Early compliance with the Act can yield competitive advantages: from winning customer trust and accessing a larger unified market, to attracting investment and staying ahead of global regulatory trends. These are tangible benefits that can offset the compliance costs. In the long run, companies that champion responsible AI are likely to be the ones that thrive, as consumers and partners increasingly prefer to deal with those who manage to balance innovation with ethics.

The EU AI Act represents a new chapter in how AI is integrated into business and society – a chapter defined by accountability, transparency, and human-centric values. For business leaders, navigating this change is now a strategic imperative. By 2026, every organisation using AI in Europe (or planning to) should have taken concrete steps to comply with the Act’s requirements, from auditing their AI systems and phasing out any high-risk practices that cross the line, to implementing robust governance for the AI they do use. The timeline is ambitious, but manageable for those who act with urgency and diligence.

Rather than approaching the EU AI Act with trepidation, embrace it as a catalyst for positive change within your company. Use the regulation as an opportunity to upgrade your AI systems and processes, making them safer, fairer, and more reliable. This will not only satisfy regulators but also improve the quality of your AI-driven products and decisions. Remember that compliance and innovation are not mutually exclusive – with the right mindset, they reinforce each other. By embedding the Act’s principles into your business model, you build a foundation of trust that can fuel adoption of your AI solutions across a wider audience. You also reduce the risk of AI-related disasters or public backlash, safeguarding your brand and customer relationships.

To put it in plain business terms, the EU AI Act gives companies the opportunity to turn a regulatory requirement into a strategic asset, enabling them to move beyond basic compliance and position themselves to excel in the new era of AI – an era where doing AI right is the key to sustainable success. The message to all industries is clear: responsible AI is not just a legal duty; it is good business.

Sources:

AI-Advisory (AI-Advy), “The EU AI Act: A New Era of Business Opportunities”

Cooley LLP, “The EU AI Act: Key Milestones and Compliance Challenges”

European Parliament, “EU AI Act: first regulation on artificial intelligence”

Future of Life Institute, “Implementation Timeline (Artificial Intelligence Act)”

Indeed Innovation, “EU AI Act Compliance 2025: A Complete Guide for Business Leaders”

Skadden, “The EU AI Act: What Businesses Need to Know”