Artificial Intelligence - Israel

The December 2023 'Policy on AI Regulation and Ethics' is a government policy document, not legislation. It adopts a 'Responsible Innovation' approach and a set of AI ethics principles drawn from the OECD AI Recommendation, applied by individual sector regulators rather than a single AI law.

Israel deliberately rejected an EU AI Act-style horizontal statute in favor of a decentralized model where specialized regulators craft fit-for-purpose, risk-based rules using soft tools (non-binding guidance, sector codes, standards), while reserving the option of horizontal legislation if cross-sector challenges emerge.

The Privacy Protection Authority published draft guidance (April 2025, open for comment to June 5, 2025) interpreting how the existing Protection of Privacy Law and its Amendment 13 (in force August 2025) apply to AI systems — covering lawful processing, transparency, and notice for automated decision-making. It applies existing law to AI rather than creating new AI-specific binding rules.

The Israel Innovation Authority published a multi-year National Program for AI (≈NIS 1 billion) covering compute, data, talent, regulatory components, public-sector adoption, and innovation/experimentation tools — a strategy and capacity-building program, not a regulatory statute.

Israel is developing regulatory sandboxes for AI, including Ministry of Justice white papers/legislative guidelines on sandbox design (early 2025) and an Innovation Authority sandbox for breakthrough AI in healthcare — experimentation tools consistent with the soft-law, sector-led approach.

The policy establishes an AI Policy Coordination Center (knowledge center) within the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology to advise and coordinate sectoral regulators, manage forums, and lead international collaboration; it is expected to issue a 'Risk Management Toolbox' of standardized templates for regulators.