Global AI Regulation: From Strict School Bans to Unregulated AI Havens

Countries are adopting sharply different approaches to AI oversight, ranging from comprehensive risk-based frameworks to outright prohibitions on generative tools in education. The United States relies on a patchwork of state laws and presidential actions, including Texas TRAIGA restrictions on high-risk AI systems and New York’s moratorium on generative AI in grades 2–8. The European Union enforces the AI Act with four risk categories, while Italy adds criminal liability and human oversight requirements in critical sectors. Norway and China have implemented some of the strictest classroom and content-authenticity rules, and Russia introduced its first baseline AI law defining sovereign models effective September 2026. Several nations have also blocked popular chatbots such as ChatGPT, DeepSeek, and Grok. Meanwhile, commercial platforms like FinamX continue integrating multiple AI models into financial workflows despite the regulatory tightening.

HabrTranslated from Russian

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Artificial intelligence has entered nearly every sphere of human activity, prompting governments worldwide to introduce restrictions, especially concerning younger users. Approaches vary widely: some nations impose strict bans, others create detailed risk classifications, and a few deliberately avoid regulation altogether.

United States follows a fragmented model with no single federal AI statute. Instead, regulation comes through presidential orders, agency actions, and state laws. Texas enacted TRAIGA on 1 January 2026, limiting development and deployment of high-risk AI systems. Arizona banned AI use for denying medical insurance claims. New York City introduced the broadest U.S. school restriction to date: a one-year moratorium on generative AI for students in grades 2–8, with chatbot bans extending to high school. The measure aims to restore critical-thinking skills required for graduation.

Europe leads with the strictest comprehensive framework via the EU AI Act adopted in August 2024, which classifies systems into four risk levels. Italy added national rules emphasizing human decision-making in healthcare, justice, and public administration, plus criminal liability for AI misuse. Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands assigned supervision to telecom regulators. Norway went further by banning generative AI in primary schools (grades 1–7) from late August, allowing limited supervised use only for older students.

China pursues centralized control focused on concrete risks. Since September 2025 all AI-generated content must carry visible or embedded identifiers. Generative services require security assessments and algorithm registration. Authorities have removed over 5.61 million pieces of illegal AI content, deleted 49,000 accounts, and blocked 2,400 websites and apps.

Russia brought its first baseline AI law into force on 1 September 2026. The statute defines core terms including “artificial intelligence,” “large foundational models,” and distinguishes sovereign models built entirely on domestic technology from national models that may incorporate foreign components. The government will set support measures and determine when organizations must use only sovereign or national solutions.

Direct service bans complement these laws. ChatGPT is officially unavailable in China, Russia, Belarus, Iran, and North Korea. At least nine countries, including Italy, South Korea, Australia, the Netherlands, and Canada, have restricted or blocked DeepSeek. In January 2026 Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines temporarily blocked Grok.

While regulators tighten controls, companies continue deploying AI in practical domains. FinamX offers an integrated workspace combining portfolio data, charts, notes, and multi-model chat for market analysis, connected to brokers and exchanges including MOEX, Bybit, and KuCoin.

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