Overview
The EU AI Act is the EU's regulation of artificial intelligence. It takes a risk-based approach: obligations scale with the risk a system poses.
The risk tiers
- Unacceptable risk — prohibited practices (e.g. social scoring).
- High risk — conformity assessment, risk management, human oversight, logging.
- Limited risk — transparency (tell users they're interacting with AI).
- Minimal risk — most AI; no specific obligations.
Why it matters
Like GDPR, it applies extraterritorially and carries significant penalties. It intersects with GDPR wherever AI processes personal data.
References
Educational summary only — not legal advice. See the primary source below.