On August 2, 2025, the obligations for providers of general-purpose AI (GPAI) models under the European Union’s AI Act began to apply. The European Commission’s own page on the regulatory framework states that “the AI Act entered into force on 1 August 2024, and will be fully applicable 2 years later on 2 August 2026,” with the rules on general-purpose AI becoming effective in August 2025.
GPAI providers face obligations such as maintaining technical documentation, putting in place a policy to comply with EU copyright law, and publishing a detailed summary of the content used to train their models. To support compliance, the Commission released guidelines and a voluntary code of practice in July 2025, describing the aim as “a clear and actionable framework for providers of GPAI models to comply with the AI Act, reducing administrative burden, and fostering innovation while safeguarding fundamental rights and public trust.” The Commission’s direct enforcement powers over GPAI providers were set to apply from August 2, 2026.
This was a milestone because it marked the first time a major jurisdiction placed binding, foundation-model-specific obligations on the companies that build frontier AI, rather than only on those who deploy it. It set an early template for AI governance that providers worldwide had to account for in how they document, train, and release models.