Vietnam’s Law on Artificial Intelligence (AI) came into into effect on Sunday, marking the first framework of its kind in Southeast Asia.

The new law’s content largely mirrors the European Union’s AI Act, which seeks to ensure accountability, transparency, and safety in light of challenges that follow AI use, including copyright infringement, misinformation, and deepfakes.

It also lays the groundwork for Vietnam to become a regional player in AI development through a newly established national AI development fund to boost investments in data centers and research capacity. The nation’s Ministry of Science and Technology will guide the development initiative and operate a national AI database for monitoring and registration.

Unlike the EU law, Vietnam has placed a greater emphasis on its digital sovereignty and increased national AI capabilities over multilateral collaboration. However both legal schemes remain committed to international integration.

Similar to the EU law, the Law on Artificial Intelligence includes a tiered risk classification system in order to more dynamically regulate different AI uses. The highest risk tier is unacceptable and entails a complete ban on AI that poses systematic threats to national security or human dignity. Examples of banned uses include non-consensual facial recognition or malicious deepfakes.

The lowest risk tier includes low-impact and minimally invasive uses such as spam-filters.

The new law supersedes the AI provisions of Vietnam’s previous 2025 Law on Digital Technology Industry and aims to centralize oversight and compliance for AI development. AI and semiconductor production form the basis of Vietnam’s recent drive to enter new markets and become a regional head in technological development.