Throughout this chapter, we examine the context and evolution of the European Union’s regulatory approach to artificial intelligence articulated through the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act). By analyzing emblematic cases, we highlight the social and ethical challenges arising from the rapid advancement of AI technologies. The chapter explores key ethical principles, such as justice, transparency, autonomy, and responsibility, and discusses how ethical as well as normative principles enable their incorporation into binding legal frameworks. We then analyze the normative architecture of the AI Act, including its scope, regulatory approach, enforcement mechanisms, and risk-based classification system. Finally, we assess the technical, legal, and geopolitical challenges of AI governance, such as global competition for technological leadership, the regulation of transnational corporations, environmental sustainability, and the borderless nature of the digital sphere. This analysis examines how to reconcile innovation with fundamental rights through constructive dialogue, and the conditions for its meaningful evolution in a globalized context.