Policy headlines matter when they change what a team is allowed to deploy, how data is handled, and who carries liability when AI systems fail.
- Track deployment obligations, not only political theater. The important question is whether a new rule changes procurement, documentation, audit, or risk requirements.
- Separate model-level risk from workflow-level compliance. A harmless-looking internal workflow can still create policy problems if data handling is weak.
- Use policy stories to tighten evaluation criteria. Governance, vendor disclosure, and regional hosting become product requirements once regulation becomes real.