The EU AI Act has long been discussed as a piece of future regulation. By August 2026, however, the situation has changed. The EU AI Act has now been in force for two years, and a significant part of its obligations has already become applicable. The Act has also already been amended. Among other things, the AI Omnibus, which entered into force in July 2026, postponed the application dates of certain obligations concerning high-risk AI systems.
From a company perspective, the situation is twofold. Some obligations, such as the requirements concerning prohibited AI practices and transparency, already apply. By contrast, companies still have time to prepare for the most extensive obligations relating to high-risk AI systems. Nevertheless, companies should already map how they use AI, identify use cases that are specifically regulated, and ensure that their internal processes and contracts support compliance with the applicable requirements.
Which obligations under the AI Act already apply?
The first significant obligations under the AI Act became applicable in February 2025. These included, among other things, the provisions on prohibited AI practices. Obligations relating to AI literacy among personnel also began to apply. The AI literacy provision was eased in July 2026, but companies that provide or use AI systems are still required to take measures to support their personnel’s AI competence.
Since August 2025, providers of general-purpose AI models have been subject to specific obligations. This part of the regulation primarily concerns developers and providers of AI models. An ordinary company that, for example, purchases an AI tool available on the market or uses a ready-made third-party AI model as part of its own SaaS service will therefore generally not be directly subject to these obligations. The key is to identify the company’s own role in the AI value chain.
Another significant set of requirements became applicable at the beginning of August 2026: the AI Act’s transparency requirements. For example, in certain situations users must be informed that they are interacting with an AI system rather than a human. AI-generated or manipulated content is also subject to new requirements concerning its detectability and labelling.
When will the obligations concerning high-risk AI systems begin to apply?
One of the key areas covered by the AI Act concerns high-risk AI systems. These may include, for example, certain systems used in recruitment, employee evaluation, education, critical infrastructure or biometric identification.
However, the timetable for these systems has changed from the original schedule. The AI Omnibus, which entered into force in July 2026, postponed the application of the obligations concerning high-risk systems referred to in Annex III of the AI Act until 2 December 2027. For high-risk AI systems incorporated into regulated products, such as certain machinery and other physical products, the new deadline is 2 August 2028.
The additional time does not mean that companies should wait before starting preparations. Requirements imposed on providers of high-risk systems concern, among other things, risk management, documentation, data governance, logging, human oversight and conformity assessment. Deployers are also subject to obligations relating, for example, to following the instructions for use, ensuring human oversight, retaining logs in certain situations, monitoring the use of the system and reporting serious incidents. Companies should begin preparing these practical processes well in advance. Building processes afterwards is often significantly more difficult than taking the requirements into account already when developing a system or planning its deployment.
How should companies prepare for the AI Act in 2026?
A natural first step for every company is to determine where and how AI is being used within the organization. In many organizations, the use of AI has developed rapidly without any centralized overview. The marketing team may be using one tool, HR another, customer service may be testing an AI assistant, while at the same time a business unit is purchasing a new system with embedded AI functionality. From the perspective of the AI Act, these use cases may have very different implications.
In practice, one of the most common use cases encountered in companies relates to HR and recruitment. Particular care is needed here because AI used, for example, to assess or select job applicants or to evaluate employee performance may fall within the category of high-risk AI systems. A solution that appears to be an ordinary efficiency-enhancing HR tool may therefore create considerably broader obligations under the AI Act than the company initially expects. In addition to the requirements of the AI Act, other applicable legislation must naturally also be taken into account, including data protection and employment law requirements.
When mapping their use cases, companies should ensure that systems are used in accordance with their intended purpose. If a deployer makes a substantial modification to a system or changes its intended purpose so that the system becomes high-risk – for example, because it is unexpectedly repurposed for an HR use case – the deployer may be regarded as the provider of the system under the AI Act. An ordinary company using AI will generally not have the capabilities required to register the system, demonstrate conformity, maintain an extensive quality management system, or fulfill the other obligations of a high-risk system provider. These situations should therefore be identified and prevented in advance. Generally, for a high-risk use case, a company should procure a system that the provider has expressly intended for that purpose and appropriately registered as a high-risk AI system.
At this stage, companies should establish a sufficient overall understanding of the AI systems they currently use or plan to use, their intended purposes, and the company’s role in relation to each system. This mapping can be used to identify potentially prohibited use cases, transparency obligations and high-risk applications, as well as to ensure that contracts support regulatory compliance.
In contracts, particular attention should be paid to the availability of necessary documentation, permitted uses, the use of data, change management, and responsibility for regulatory changes and the related costs. Measures supporting personnel’s AI literacy, such as training and internal guidance, should also be proportionate to the identified use cases and their risk classifications.
The time for waiting is coming to an end
The AI Act continues to become applicable in stages, and companies do not need to resolve every issue at once. By August 2026, however, the regulation is no longer something waiting on the horizon: it is already part of today’s compliance requirements. The European Commission and national authorities have begun enforcing the applicable obligations, and the next major deadlines are already in sight.
Companies should therefore ensure now that their use of AI, internal processes and contractual arrangements provide a sufficiently solid foundation for both current and upcoming obligations.
We are happy to assist with questions relating to the application of the AI Act, the assessment and risk classification of AI system use cases, and contracts concerning AI.
Katri Aarnio
Counsel
+358 50 306 2031
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AI tools are developing at a remarkable pace. Not long ago, an AI-generated image was easy to recognise, but today, the best AI-generated images are so convincing that they can be indistinguishable from genuine photographs. AI can also be used to produce text, audio and video, offering creative industry professionals significant opportunities to accelerate content production and develop new forms of expression.
At the same time, the use of AI raises numerous legal questions. In this blog post, I discuss the legal considerations that companies operating in the creative industries should take into account before introducing AI tools and using them as part of their creative work.
Who owns AI-assisted content, and how can it be protected?
A key question is whether the creator obtains an exclusive right to use and license material produced with the assistance of AI, or whether the result remains freely available for anyone to use. There is no straightforward answer, as it depends on the extent of the human creator’s own creative contribution to the work.
Copyright belongs to the person who creates a work, provided that the work is sufficiently independent and original. Copyright protection always requires a creative contribution by a human, and the assessment is made on a case-by-case basis. Copyright never protects an idea as such, but only the specific form in which the idea is expressed.
When a creative professional uses AI as a tool in their work, the existence of copyright is assessed according to these same principles. Copyright does not arise where a person gives the AI only a general instruction and the AI produces the final content entirely without any creative contribution from the user.
The situation is different if AI is used as part of a broader creative process. If the creator uses AI, for example, to support brainstorming, then creates the content themselves and uses AI only for final refinements, the work is likely to contain enough of the creator’s own creative contribution to qualify for copyright protection.
The use of AI should also be documented in case of potential disputes. Retaining the creator’s own drafts and the prompts used can make it easier to demonstrate which parts of the final result are based on human creative work.
If content is created using generative AI and the result does not qualify for copyright protection, protection may in some cases also be sought through trademarks. For example, Moomin Characters has protected Moomin characters as trademarks. However, it is important to note that a trademark only provides protection in specified classes of goods and services and within a particular geographical area. It does not protect the creative content as such. Its scope and purpose therefore differ from those of copyright protection.
If a creative project involving extensive use of generative AI is being planned, trademark protection may nevertheless be worth considering alongside copyright as a complementary form of protection.
Can AI-generated material be used freely?
Material created with AI is not automatically free from third-party rights. The key questions are which AI service was used to produce the material and how liability has been allocated in the service’s terms of use.
Some AI services use only licensed training data or other material that is not protected by copyright and contractually assume responsibility for ensuring that the materials generated by the AI do not infringe third-party copyrights. In such cases, the service provider bears responsibility for the output to the extent agreed in the terms of use, and the user’s legal risk is substantially lower.
Many widely used services, however, have been trained on extensive datasets collected from the internet, which may also contain copyright-protected material. In most services, the service provider does not contractually assume responsibility for ensuring that the generated content does not infringe third-party rights. Instead, responsibility for using the content remains with the user. Material produced using such services therefore requires careful review before publication.
In summary, there is no universally applicable answer as to whether AI-generated materials may be used freely. The allocation of responsibility depends primarily on the service used and its terms of use, which should be reviewed before AI is introduced as part of content production.
Can confidential information be entered into an AI service?
As a general rule, confidential information should not be entered into an AI service unless the service is specifically intended for business use and its terms and information security have been carefully assessed.
For business purposes, companies should use business or enterprise versions of generative AI services unless they operate a local AI solution on their own servers. In consumer services, such as the free and Plus versions of ChatGPT, materials and prompts entered into the service may, in accordance with the terms of use, be used to train the AI model. In addition, the service provider may reserve broad rights to use and even share material uploaded by users for purposes other than AI model training.
This means that if a company’s employees use consumer licences in their work, they may compromise the confidentiality of information by entering confidential material into the service.
The practical risk may arise, for example, where a screenwriter or copywriter uses a free consumer AI service to refine a text and enters an unpublished script or campaign concept into the service. Under consumer licences, the content may be used to develop AI models, meaning that the material is no longer under the company’s exclusive control. Even if the content does not appear elsewhere in an identical form, there is a risk that recognisable features of the material may be used as part of outputs generated for other users.
It is also important to note that other risks do not disappear even if the use of content for training purposes can be prohibited separately in the service settings or terms of use. Under consumer licences, service providers often do not provide binding guarantees regarding the security of the service. Information entered into the service may therefore be exposed to data breaches or other information security incidents. Protecting confidential information requires selecting a licence suitable for business use and assessing the service’s terms and information security before introducing the AI service.
Can personal data be entered into an AI service?
If personal data, such as a person’s image, voice or name, is entered into an AI service, the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, applies.
The company is responsible for ensuring that the licensing terms of the AI service have been carefully assessed. As part of its compliance with the GDPR, the company must ensure, among other things, that material uploaded to the service is not used to train the AI, that it is possible to enter into the data processing agreement required by the GDPR with the service provider, and that the AI service provides appropriate security for the protection of personal data. In practice, the use of an AI service will generally also require a data protection impact assessment.
The use of AI services under free consumer licences will generally not comply with the GDPR, as service providers often also use uploaded material for their own purposes.
Is it permissible to use AI to generate images or voices of real people?
Particular attention is also required where AI is used to produce images of real people or to create AI-generated copies of a real person’s voice. A person’s image, voice and other identifying features constitute personal data. AI-generated material may also be considered personal data if a specific individual can be identified from it. In such cases, all GDPR requirements apply, including the requirement to inform the individual about the processing of their personal data and the requirement to have a lawful basis for the processing.
In content production, it is also important to recognise that using a person’s image or voice for commercial purposes requires that person’s consent. In 2025, the Helsinki Court of Appeal ordered an underwear company to pay Jasper Pääkkönen EUR 300,000 in compensation for the unauthorised use of his name, image and voice in an extensive advertising campaign. The judgment is not yet final, and the Supreme Court has granted leave to appeal. The obligation to obtain consent also applies where the person’s image or voice has been generated using AI.
When must AI-generated content be labelled as a deepfake?
The EU’s new AI Act introduces transparency requirements concerning deepfakes. The Act will become applicable gradually, and the provisions concerning deepfakes will apply from 2 August 2026.
Deepfakes are AI-generated or AI-manipulated image, audio or video content that resembles existing people, objects, places, entities or events and may falsely appear to the recipient to be authentic or truthful. The transparency obligation is therefore not limited to deepfakes depicting people.
Under the AI Act, deepfakes must be clearly labelled as having been artificially generated or manipulated. However, the Act includes an exception for creative works. Where the content forms part of an evidently artistic, creative, satirical, fictional or similar work or programme, the disclosure may be made in a manner that does not interfere with the display or enjoyment of the work.
For example, a documentary-style television production may use highly realistic AI-generated images or videos to illustrate historical events. If the context does not otherwise indicate that the material is artificial, viewers may believe it to be genuine archival footage. In such a case, the transparency obligation under the AI Act must generally be considered. However, the exception for creative works allows the use of AI to be disclosed in a manner appropriate to the nature of the work, for example in the programme’s end credits, provided that the audience is not left with a false impression of the authenticity of the content.
A breach of the transparency obligation concerning deepfakes may result in an administrative fine under the AI Act.
Checklist for creative industry professionals
Rights: ensure that your own creative contribution is sufficient if you want the final result to qualify for copyright protection.
Documentation: document the use of AI and your own creative contribution.
Terms of use: review the service terms and determine what rights you receive to the generated content and who is responsible for potential infringements.
Business-level licences: only use business-level licences for professional purposes and enter into a data processing agreement where necessary.
GDPR and consent: using a person’s image or voice requires compliance with data protection rules and, for commercial use, the person’s consent.
Deepfakes: if content has been artificially generated or manipulated, ensure that the disclosure requirements of the AI Act are met.
Would you like to discuss the legal questions surrounding AI? We help companies assess the legal risks and opportunities associated with the use of AI in the creative industries and in other AI-enabled business operations.
Lila Kallio Counsel
+358 41 465 1365
Katri Aarnio Counsel
+358 50 306 2031
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- Katri Aarnio
- Oct 17, 2025
Updated: Aug 5
Artificial intelligence has become part of everyday operations in many organisations. Some companies are already implementing a consistent AI strategy, while others are still at the beginning of their journey. The reality, however, is that many organisations already use AI extensively across different functions, either through tools selected by the company or through applications adopted independently by employees.
Many companies find themselves in a situation where they have not yet had time to establish a consistent policy for the use of AI. In some cases, guidance already exists, but it was drafted before the requirements of the EU AI Act became relevant. Now, at the latest, is the right time to ensure that the company’s AI practices and expertise are up to date. This is also critical for ensuring that personnel have the level of AI literacy required under the AI Act.
Why is an AI policy needed?
An AI policy is not merely a formality. It is a practical tool that enables a company to use AI responsibly and safely. At the same time, it helps the organisation respond to new regulatory requirements and creates the conditions for effective innovation.
Ensuring AI literacy: First, an AI policy supports the obligation to ensure an adequate level of AI literacy under the AI Act. Since February 2025, every organisation using AI has been required, to the best of its ability, to ensure that its personnel have a sufficient understanding of the risks, opportunities and potential harm associated with AI. A well-drafted AI policy is a key part of meeting this organisational and training obligation. The European Commission has also indicated that fines and other penalties may be more likely in cases where an organisation has failed to comply with the AI literacy obligation.
Encouraging responsible use: Clear rules encourage employees to use AI. When employees understand what is permitted and what is not, the use of AI can develop from cautious experimentation into systematic business improvement. A clear policy creates a sense of security that encourages employees to explore new ways of making their work more efficient without fearing that the use of AI could inadvertently breach contractual or regulatory obligations or cause other risks to materialise. In this way, an AI policy serves not only as a risk management tool but also as a tool for innovation.
Managing hidden use: An AI policy helps an organisation identify and manage undisclosed use and shadow AI. In many organisations, AI tools have been introduced through applications selected independently by employees. Where the use of AI is not identified, the related risks cannot be managed either. A policy makes the use of AI visible and enables the organisation to provide guidance on tools that employees adopt independently without separate approval. A complete ban on AI may not necessarily reduce risks. On the contrary, it may make it more difficult to provide employees with practical guidance on appropriate ways of working.
Protecting trade secrets and personal data: One of the most important functions of an AI policy is to establish clear boundaries for the use of trade secrets and personal data in connection with AI. When an employee enters customer data, internal plans or personal data into an AI tool, the information may spread beyond the organisation’s control. The policy should establish practical rules on what information may be used, under what conditions and in which environments. In this way, it protects the interests of both the company and its stakeholders.
Implementing the requirements of the AI Act: An AI policy helps an organisation put into practice the operating models and restrictions required under AI regulation. The AI Act imposes obligations particularly in relation to high-risk use cases, including requirements concerning data governance, the retention of logs, and the monitoring and oversight of use. Merely being aware of these obligations is not enough. They must be implemented in a way that makes them visible in day-to-day processes and decision-making. The policy acts as a bridge between legal requirements and practical work.
Building trust among stakeholders: An AI policy also sends a message to external stakeholders. When a company can demonstrate that it uses AI in a considered and responsible manner, it builds trust among customers, business partners and authorities. Trust, in turn, strengthens the company’s reputation and distinguishes it positively from its competitors. An AI policy therefore serves simultaneously as a risk management tool, a training instrument and a strategic statement of responsible business conduct.
AI policy is an investment in a sustainable future
The use of AI introduces new types of risk, but it also creates enormous opportunities. A clear AI policy helps turn AI into a genuine business strength by enabling new forms of innovation while ensuring that the associated risks are managed appropriately.
Whether AI is already an essential part of the company’s daily operations or still at the experimental stage, now is the right time to ensure that internal guidance and training are up to date.
Katri Aarnio
Counsel
050 306 2031
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