From Asimov to the AI Act: A History of AI Governance

Eight decades in five eras: from fictional robot laws through privacy statutes, algorithmic scandals, and principle declarations to binding law — and the recurring patterns that let you predict what happens next.

Content current as of 2026-09.

Lessons

1. Prehistory: fiction, cybernetics, and the privacy scaffold (1942–2012)
2. The awakening and the principles gold rush (2013–2019)
3. Drafting laws while the ground moved (2020–2023)
4. Binding law arrives — then the world diverges (2024–2025)
5. Where we are now (2026) — and the five patterns that predict what happens next