Uses of AI that are banned outright.
A small set of AI uses are banned as unacceptable, whatever safeguards come with them. The clearest example is the EU AI Act, whose Article 5 prohibits social scoring by public authorities, untargeted scraping of facial images, most real-time remote biometric identification in public spaces, emotion recognition in workplaces and schools, and certain manipulative or exploitative systems. A December 2026 amendment adds a ban on AI that generates non-consensual intimate imagery and child sexual abuse material. Other jurisdictions ban narrower categories, usually deepfakes of a person's likeness without consent and AI-generated sexual abuse material.
Prohibitions carry the heaviest penalties and apply regardless of sector or company size. They are the first thing to check because no amount of documentation or disclosure makes a banned use lawful.
European UnionComprehensive, horizontal, risk-based statutePhasing in
BrazilComprehensive EU-style bill advancing through the legislatureProposed
PeruFramework AI law with a risk-based regulation phasing in by sectorIn force
Saudi ArabiaCentralized governance through SDAIA; principles and drafts, no AI actNo comprehensive law
United States: TexasIntent-based statute with a NIST-linked defenseIn forceThe Council gave the AI Act simplification package its final approval on June 29, after Parliament's vote on June 16. It confirms the deferral of stand-alone high-risk obligations to December 2, 2027 and product-embedded ones to August 2, 2028, narrows the 'safety component' test, and adds the nudifier and CSAM prohibition taking effect in December 2026.
Negotiators reached political agreement on the first amendments to the AI Act since adoption. The package extends high-risk deadlines, trims duplicative product rules, softens the AI-literacy duty, and introduces a ban on AI that generates non-consensual intimate imagery and CSAM.
The implementing regulation of Law 31814 took effect ninety business days after its September publication, adding a three-tier risk framework, prohibitions on unauthorized mass surveillance and predictive policing, human-oversight duties, sandboxes, and sector compliance clocks running one to four years.
Artificial Intelligence Regulations, "Prohibited AI practices in AI Regulation," reviewed October 19, 2026, https://artificialintelligenceregulations.com/topics/prohibited-practices.html.
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