EU AI Act
Complete Guide
The European Union's AI Act is the world's first comprehensive legal framework for artificial intelligence. Understand the risk-based approach, compliance deadlines, and what it means for your AI systems.
Risk-Based Classification System
The EU AI Act categorizes AI systems into four risk tiers, each with different compliance requirements and penalties.
Prohibited Risk
Deadline: February 2025
AI systems that pose an unacceptable risk to safety, livelihoods, and rights.
Examples:
- •Social scoring by governments
- •Real-time biometric surveillance in public spaces
- •Manipulation of vulnerable groups
- •Predictive policing based on profiling
Maximum Penalty:
7% of global annual revenue or €35M
High-Risk Risk
Deadline: August 2026
AI systems that significantly impact health, safety, or fundamental rights.
Examples:
- •Medical devices and diagnostics
- •Employment and HR decisions
- •Credit scoring and financial access
- •Educational assessment systems
Maximum Penalty:
3% of global annual revenue or €15M
Limited Risk Risk
Deadline: August 2025
AI systems with transparency obligations requiring user disclosure.
Examples:
- •Chatbots (must disclose AI interaction)
- •Emotion recognition systems
- •Deepfake generators
- •Biometric categorization
Maximum Penalty:
1.5% of global annual revenue or €7.5M
Minimal Risk Risk
Deadline: No deadline
AI systems with no specific regulatory requirements under the Act.
Examples:
- •AI-powered spam filters
- •Recommendation engines
- •AI in video games
- •Inventory management AI
Maximum Penalty:
Voluntary codes of conduct
Compliance Timeline
The EU AI Act is being implemented in phases. Know your deadlines.
EU AI Act enters into force
Prohibited AI practices banned
Transparency obligations for limited-risk AI
Full compliance required for high-risk AI systems
Obligations for general-purpose AI models
High-Risk AI Requirements
If your AI system is classified as high-risk, you must implement these mandatory requirements. ISO 42001 maps directly to most of these obligations.
Risk Management System
Establish, implement, document, and maintain a continuous risk management system throughout the AI lifecycle.
Data Governance
Ensure training, validation, and testing datasets are relevant, representative, and free from errors.
Technical Documentation
Maintain comprehensive technical documentation demonstrating compliance before market placement.
Record-Keeping
Automatic logging of events for traceability during the AI system operation.
Transparency
Provide clear information to deployers about capabilities, limitations, and intended use.
Human Oversight
Design systems to allow effective human oversight during operation.
Accuracy & Robustness
Ensure appropriate levels of accuracy, robustness, and cybersecurity.
Quality Management
Implement a quality management system ensuring ongoing compliance.
ISO 42001 + EU AI Act = Complete Coverage
Implementing ISO 42001 addresses 90%+ of EU AI Act high-risk requirements. Get certified to demonstrate compliance.
High-Risk Industry Guides
Industry-specific guidance for EU AI Act compliance.
Healthcare AI
Medical devices, diagnostics, clinical decision support
View Guide →HR-Tech AI
Resume screening, interview analysis, performance evaluation
View Guide →Fintech AI
Credit scoring, fraud detection, algorithmic trading
View Guide →Insurance AI
Risk assessment, claims processing, underwriting
View Guide →Don't Wait Until August 2026
Start your EU AI Act compliance journey today. Get a free assessment of your AI systems and a roadmap to compliance.
Kevin A
Principal Security & GRC Engineer
Kevin is a security engineer turned GRC specialist. He focuses on mapping cloud-native infrastructure (AWS/Azure/GCP) to modern compliance frameworks, ensuring that security controls are both robust and auditor-ready without slowing down development cycles.