This paper examines the relationship between the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act and the Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, both adopted in 2024. Through comparative legal and doctrinal analysis, it considers their objectives, definitions of an AI system, approaches to risk, scope and implementation mechanisms. The analysis finds that the instruments rest on compatible principles of human rights protection and risk management, while differing in their legal nature, the actors subject to obligations and the specificity of their requirements. The Framework Convention may facilitate the international diffusion of approaches compatible with EU law, but it does not provide for the automatic transfer of the Union’s entire regulatory model to other parties’ legal systems. The limits of this influence arise from the treaty’s framework character, flexibility in domestic implementation and provisions governing the private sector.