The EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) is the world's first comprehensive regulatory response to artificial intelligence. It regulates the development, placing on the market and use of AI systems in the European Union through a risk-based approach.
The regulation is directly applicable in all 27 EU member states and applies to providers (developers) and deployers (users) of AI systems — even when the company is not EU-based, as long as the AI is used in the EU or affects EU citizens.
Its goal is a high level of protection for health, safety and fundamental rights — without blocking innovation. To build trust in AI systems, the Act establishes obligations around transparency, human oversight, data quality, risk management and conformity assessment.
The Act classifies AI systems by their potential harm: the higher the risk, the stricter the rules.
AI practices that violate European fundamental values are fully prohibited under Art. 5, including manipulative, exploitative or discriminatory systems (e.g. government social scoring, covert emotion recognition).
Systems affecting significant rights and safety are subject to strict duties: risk management (Art. 9), data quality (Art. 10), documentation (Art. 11), user transparency, human oversight (Art. 14), conformity assessment and CE marking.
AI interacting with humans or generating content must be recognisable as such. Deployers must inform users that they interact with AI and label AI-generated content (e.g. deepfakes).
The vast majority of AI systems (e.g. spam filters, games, inventory management) fall here; no specific duties apply, but the Act encourages voluntary codes of conduct (Art. 95).
The EU AI Act is applied in stages over 24–36 months after entry into force.
Enforcement of breaches of the regulation.
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Systematically check whether your company meets all obligations under Art. 4 EU AI Act.
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Document all deployed AI systems including classification per EU AI Act.
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The KI-Compliance Academy offers certified training in three levels — Basic (employees), Leadership (decision makers), Technical (developers). On successful completion participants receive an Art. 4 EU AI Act compliance certificate.
Related pages around EU AI Act compliance — structured by Article 4, risk classes and obligations of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689.