The European Union's AI Act became law on August 1, 2024, and is scheduled to take effect on August 2, 2026. This legislation establishes the EU as the global first mover in AI regulation and is expected to serve as a benchmark for future legislative efforts around the world. As efforts to regulate AI elsewhere, including the United States, are still in the early stages, other jurisdictions will have the opportunity to learn from this regulatory experiment. In the best-case scenario, the AI Act will serve to foster responsible development and safe deployment of increasingly complex and powerful AI systems. But it is also possible that the AI Act may have the effect of stalling AI innovation in Europe and causing the EU to become a place to be avoided by businesses that develop and operate AI systems. Whether current and future legislative efforts, in the EU and elsewhere, can prove agile enough to regulate—without stifling—a rapidly moving industry remains an open question.