SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea became the first country to have a wide-ranging law regulating artificial intelligence take full effect on Thursday, including specific provisions targeting deepfakes.

The country, home to memory chip powerhouses Samsung and SK hynix, has said it aims to join the United States and China as one of the top three AI powers.

“The AI Basic Act comes into full effect today,” President Lee Jae Myung said.

The law requires companies to give users advance notice when services or products use generative AI.

It also says they must clearly label content, including deepfakes, that cannot readily be differentiated from reality, among other requirements.

The act, passed in December 2024, is meant to “establish a safety- and trust-based foundation to support AI innovation,” the Ministry of Science and ICT said in a statement.

Violations are punishable by a fine of up to 30 million won ($20,400).

South Korean media said it was the first comprehensive AI regulation law in the world to take effect.

The ministry described it as the second of its kind in the world to be enacted.

The European Parliament says it adopted the “world’s first rules on AI” in June 2024, but these are coming in more gradually and will only become completely applicable in 2027.

For the past year, however, the European Union has allowed regulators to ban AI systems deemed to pose “unacceptable risks” to society, under its Artificial Intelligence Act.

That could include identifying people in real time using cameras in public spaces, or evaluating criminal risk based on biometric data alone.