Tech + Policy · Stacked bars
The gap between announcement and enforcement.
Every jurisdiction has AI policy. Most have less of it actually in force than the press releases suggest. The chart counts distinct instruments by stage: drafted, consulted, passed, in force. Read the saturated rightmost segment as enforceable reality. Read the lighter left segments as intent.
- Drafted
- Consulted
- Passed
- In force
Source: OECD AI Policy Observatory snapshot, internal compilation. Last verified .
Three patterns
China and the EU have the deepest "in force" segments — for opposite reasons, with opposite consequences for industry. Brazil and India have long drafting pipelines and short enforcement records: the announcement-enforcement gap is widest there. South Africa sits at the bottom of the chart on every metric — the practical consequence is that the country's AI strategy is whatever its largest deployers decide it is.