Alert: Italy’s new AI Law, Europe’s first comprehensive AI regulations to align with the EU AI Act

On 17 September 2025, Italy’s Parliament approved a new law regulating the use of AI, Senate Act No. 1146-B.  This makes Italy the first European country to implement comprehensive national AI regulations aligning with the EU AI Act.

What does this new law do?

The new law introduces a number of new provisions including:

1. Criminal penalties of 1 to 5 years in prison for illegal spreading of AI-generated or AI-manipulated content that causes harm.
2. Increased criminal penalties when AI is used for crimes such as fraud, identity theft and money laundering.
3. Requirements for parental consent for children under the age of 14 to use access AI services.
4. Permitting AI driven text and data mining only for non-copyrighted content or scientific research by authorised institutions.
5. Copyright protection for AI generated or assisted works if the works originate from genuine intellectual effort.

Who will enforce it?

The Agency for Digital Italy and the National Cybersecurity Agency will enforce this legislation.

Is there any more AI activity in Italy?

Yes. The Italian data protection authority, the Garante, has been more active that most in the area of AI. 

Cases have included:

1. The suspension of DeepSeek
2. An investigation into OpenAI which led to the temporary suspension of ChatGPT in Italy
3. The suspension of chatbot ReplikaAI in Italy together with a fine of €5m
4. The prohibition of AI-enabled surveillance by a local authority
5. Two fines of over €7m for Foodinho over the use of AI to allocate food delivery operatives together with a fine of €2.5m for Deliveroo over similar concerns
6. A fine of €20m for Clearview AI over its use of AI facial recognition technology

Given that the Garante is a different agency from the lead agencies under the new Act we can expect this GDPR-based activity to continue too.

More information

The new Act can be viewed at Senato della Repubblica: Senate Act No. 1146-B.

For more information on the EU AI Act, visit The EU Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act: FAQs.

Learn more about our work on AI compliance at Artificial Intelligence (AI) Lawyers.