What AI is changing in organizations right now

Providers of AI systems that generate synthetic audio, images, video or text and were placed on the market before August 2, 2026 must implement machine-readable labeling under Article 50(2) of the AI Act by December 2, 2026. For systems placed on the market later, the duty has applied since August 2026.

For the organization: The duty falls on providers. Companies that use these tools still face a checking question of their own: how will anyone in the company know which texts and images came from an AI, and who makes sure that label survives further editing? Concerns: checking.

More in the series: Law, Volume 1

Since the amendment by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, the AI Act's requirements for high-risk systems under Annex III apply from December 2, 2027. The original date was August 2, 2026. Annex III covers, among other things, systems used in employment and personnel management, for example to select applicants.

For the organization: The extra sixteen months help only if someone uses them. In many companies nobody can say which software in HR sorts or scores applications, or who checks this before the deadline. Concerns: ownership, pace.

More in the series: Law, Volume 1 · The AI Act in the EU Member States

Employers who put a high-risk AI system into service or use it at the workplace inform employee representatives and the affected employees beforehand (Article 26(7) AI Act). For Annex III systems this applies from December 2, 2027.

For the organization: In German companies, the works council's rights under the Works Constitution Act come on top. Companies that involve the works council and employees early can agree with them on review steps and limits for the system before it changes daily work. Concerns: ownership, rules.

More in the series: Law, Volume 1

Article 4 of the AI Act has applied in a new version since July 27, 2026. Providers and deployers take measures to support the AI literacy of their staff and consider knowledge, experience and the context in which the systems are used. They do not have to guarantee a specific level of literacy for each person.

For the organization: The new version leaves room. Companies that use it first ask where someone checks and signs off on AI output, and focus their support on those points. Training for everyone doesn't answer that question yet. Concerns: checking, ownership.

More in the series: White paper: What AI Tests in Your Rules

Under Germany's AI market surveillance act (KI-MIG), the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) has been the authority responsible for the AI Act since July 29, 2026, unless the act names another authority. Under section 8 of the act it is the central office for complaints about violations. According to its website, filing is free of charge and only possible through an online form.

For the organization: A complaint can come from outside: from applicants, customers or employees. A company therefore needs someone who can answer the authority's questions, knows which AI systems are in use and can say who answers for them. Concerns: ownership.

More in the series: The AI Act in the EU Member States

Since May 5, 2025, Lexware Office, an accounting product widely used by small German companies, has automatically checked incoming e-invoices for correctness and shown problems in a check report. Since August 20, 2026, the software has prefilled the discount rate and amount in payment preparation when it detects an early-payment discount on a document.

For the organization: Both reduce work in accounting and shift who judges an invoice first. When someone in the company knows what the software checks and what it prefills, they can align their own checks with it and avoid both duplicate work and blind spots. Concerns: checking.

More in the series: Sheet 2 to fill in: when to check

Since July 8, 2026, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central has allowed several sales order agents per company. According to Microsoft, they find requested items more reliably and filter messages by relevance. The change is active for users automatically as soon as such an agent is set up.

For the organization: What an agent classifies as irrelevant often goes unseen in sales. A rule is needed for who samples the sorted-out messages, how often, and who stops the agent when errors appear. Concerns: checking, rules.

More in the series: Sheet 3 to fill in: zone and pace

Since February 2, 2025, the AI Act has prohibited the use of AI systems that infer the emotions of a person at the workplace or in education (Article 5(1)(f)). Systems used for medical or safety reasons are exempt.

For the organization: The prohibition concerns use, so it also covers software that offers emotion recognition as one feature among many, for example when analyzing conversations employees have with customers. Whoever introduces such tools needs someone to check beforehand which features are switched on. Concerns: checking, rules.

More in the series: Law, Volume 1

In Germany, the works council has a say in introducing and using technical systems designed to monitor employees' behavior or performance (section 87(1) no. 6 Works Constitution Act). Whether a new feature in existing software falls under this depends on the case. The question arises, for example, when a feature analyzes salespeople's calls and emails (entry R0010).

For the organization: The hard part is noticing, because updates arrive all the time and few people read the release notes with co-determination in mind. A fixed assignment helps: a named person reviews the new features of the company's own systems every quarter and passes them on to the works council and data protection. Concerns: ownership, pace.

More in the series: Law, Volume 1

A draft bill on employee data from the German labor and interior ministries, dated October 8, 2024, set out specific rules and was not adopted when the coalition at the time ended. According to a specialist report from June 2026, the labor ministry is preparing a new draft. Nothing has been adopted so far.

For the organization: Until something is adopted, the GDPR and the Works Constitution Act apply. A company that signs a works agreement on AI today can add a clause that puts the agreement back on the agenda once a new law is passed. Concerns: rules, pace.

More in the series: Law, Volume 1

Salesforce has announced a Sales Cloud feature that captures salespeople's calls and emails and writes qualification criteria, next steps and deal risk signals straight into the opportunity fields. According to Salesforce, Agentforce for Sales customers will get it automatically, with no separate purchase and no sign-up.

For the organization: Whether a deal is at risk used to be the call of a person who answered for it. When that assessment comes from analyzing conversations, someone has to check the entries before the revenue forecast relies on them. Whether analyzing conversations requires works council approval also needs to be settled (entry R0006). Concerns: checking, ownership.

More in the series: Sheet 2 to fill in: when to check

Our own review of release notes from 15 widely used business applications between April 21, 2025 and October 21, 2026 counts 125 new features that presort, score, rank, suggest or execute steps themselves. 48 of them execute steps on their own. For 63 features, the vendor does not say whether they are active by default or must be switched on.

For the organization: Many of these features change who makes a preselection without anyone in the company deciding it. A quarterly review of the release notes for the company's own systems makes these shifts visible before they become routine. Concerns: ownership, pace.

More in the series: Where do I start?