AI Global Regulations Atlas
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00 Businessabc Atlas series · Edition of 4 November 2026 · By Dinis Guarda

AI Global Regulations Atlas

A data-visualisation atlas and tracker of 1,170 AI regulatory instruments across 109 countries and jurisdictions: laws, bills, decrees, guidelines and national strategies, mapped by model, status and maturity. Every human being is humanity; every law here is one society's answer to what a machine may do to a person.

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AI regulatory instruments
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Countries & jurisdictions
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Instruments in force
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In the legislative pipeline

Corpus snapshot from the regulations.ai tracker. On 4 November 2026 its live count stood at 1,180 instruments, 683 in force and 388 in the pipeline. Read the full analysis in the companion white paper.

01 The world map of AI law

Where AI law binds, where it is drafted, where it is still a strategy

Each of the 109 jurisdictions is placed in one of six regulatory models and given a maturity score from 1 to 5 for binding force, scope, implementation and AI specificity. Select a country for its flagship instrument; recolour the map by model, maturity or status.

Colour by
Region

Rank by maturity

Top ten of 109 on the Atlas score, coloured by model

02 Anatomy of the corpus

Soft law still outnumbers hard law

The tracker's instruments divide into six types. Strategies and guidelines outnumber binding acts, regulations and decrees, and roughly one instrument in three is written but not yet in force.

Instruments by type

Blue: soft law · grey: binding · light: bills

Status of the 1,170

In force, in the pipeline, or other (repealed, expired, unclassified)

Instruments by year

Dated instruments added to the corpus

Most active jurisdictions

By number of tracked instruments

The United States figure combines federal action with a large and fast-growing body of state law. NYU's Center on Technology Policy counted 109 new state AI laws in 29 states by 1 July 2026.

Also in the tracker: 4,500+ glossary terms, 296 enforcement actions and court decisions, and 581 research papers.

03 Six regulatory models

There is no single grammar of AI law

Brussels legislates horizontally; London distributes the work to existing regulators; Beijing writes targeted measures for each new application. Around those three sit promotion laws, pending bills and strategy-first governance. Select a model to filter the map.

04 From principle to obligation

Seven years from soft principles to binding deadlines

Milestones in cyan have happened; deadlines in gold are still ahead. On small screens, scroll the years sideways.

05 Readiness and responsibility

Law on paper is not governance in practice

The Global Index on Responsible AI (2026) scores 135 countries on 38 indicators and finds a global average near 35 out of 100. The IMF AI Preparedness Index scores 174 economies from 0 to 1. Both maps are densest in rich, digital, mostly European states.

GIRAI 2026: top ten

Score out of 100 · global average ≈ 35 · Europe 54.2 · Global South 27

IMF AI Preparedness Index: top ten

Score 0–1 · China 0.63 (31st) · India 0.49 (72nd) of 174

06 Where the law acquires teeth

Maximum fines differ by a factor of more than a thousand

Ceilings for the most serious breach, converted to euros at approximate November 2026 rates and drawn on a logarithmic scale. Percentage-of-turnover caps apply when higher.

07 Exposure check

Which rules touch my AI system?

Choose where the system's outputs are used and what it does. The Atlas lists the instruments that apply or are coming, with their dates. It is an orientation tool, not legal advice.

Markets where outputs are used
What the system does
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instruments in scope
08 Jurisdiction directory

All 109 jurisdictions, sortable

Search by name or instrument; filter by region and model; sort any column. Confidence reflects how directly the classification rests on primary or high-quality secondary sources.

JurisdictionRegionModelMaturityStatusYearFlagship instrumentConfidence
09 Method and sources

Every number links back to its source

Instrument totals, types, status and the five largest jurisdiction counts come from the regulations.ai tracker. Responsibility scores come from GIRAI 2026; readiness scores from the IMF AIPI; investment, incidents and trust from the Stanford HAI AI Index 2026. Model, maturity and confidence are the Atlas's own editorial classification of each jurisdiction's flagship instruments as of 4 November 2026; they are judgements, shown with their sources so that you can check them.

This Atlas is an independent editorial and educational resource published by Businessabc.net. It is not legal advice. Statuses change quickly: Colorado's AI Act was rewritten before taking effect, and the EU's high-risk deadlines have already moved once. Always check the official text of an instrument before relying on it. Corrections are welcome.