Microsoft announced its readiness strategy for the European Union's AI Act implementation, detailing plans to help customers both innovate with AI and comply with the world's first comprehensive AI law, according to a January 15, 2025 blog post by Chief Responsible AI Officer Natasha Crampton.
"At Microsoft, we are ready to help our customers do two things at once: innovate with AI and comply with the EU AI Act," states Crampton. The company's approach focuses on building compliant products and services, supporting customer deployment, and engaging with European policymakers on implementation practices.
Microsoft's framework specifically addresses supply chain obligations under the EU AI Act. As Crampton notes, "One of the core concepts of the EU AI Act is that obligations need to be allocated across the AI supply chain." This means upstream regulated actors like Microsoft must support downstream regulated actors such as enterprise customers integrating Microsoft tools into high-risk AI systems.
* Key compliance dates include:
- February 2025: Prohibited practices provisions take effect
- August 2025: Important deadline for organisations substantially fine-tuning AI models
As stated in the blog post, "Implementation practices that are efficient, effective, and interoperable internationally are going to be key to supporting useful and trustworthy innovation on a global scale."