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2026 AI Regulation: EU AI Act One Year In—is China Setting the Agenda or Playing Catch-Up?

AI Regulation, EU AI Act, Policy —

It’s April, and the EU AI Act has been in effect for almost a year. Passed in 2024, it’s probably the world’s most comprehensive AI regulation to date.

What Does the EU AI Act Actually Regulate?

The regulation categorizes AI applications into four risk levels:

  • Unacceptable risk: Directly prohibited
  • High risk: Requires strict auditing
  • Limited risk: Primarily disclosure obligations
  • Minimal risk: Basically unregulated

After a year of enforcement? Honestly, slower progress than expected. Big companies are scrambling for compliance, but many SMBs can’t keep up.

Where Is China’s AI Regulation?

China has its own AI regulatory framework, but the overall feel is “fragmented, pilot-based, reactive.” No unified, comprehensive AI law like the EU.

My Take

From a legislative perspective, China definitely isn’t as aggressive as the EU. But from an enforcement angle, China has its own advantages: strong regulatory execution and fast policy transmission.

China isn’t “drawing circles” and it isn’t “playing catch-up”—it’s “walking its own path.”

For practitioners, this is actually good news—too much regulatory uncertainty and nobody will invest.

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