EU AI Act Compliance: Risk Tiers and Duties
The EU AI Act is the first broad, binding AI regulation. Its obligations scale with risk tier and depend on whether you are a provider or a deployer. This guide explains the tiers and the practical duties.
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The risk tiers
Uses are classed as unacceptable (prohibited), high-risk (heavily regulated), limited-risk (transparency duties), or minimal-risk (largely unregulated). Classifying your uses correctly is the first step.
High-risk obligations
High-risk systems require risk management, data governance, technical documentation, human oversight, accuracy and robustness, and conformity assessment before market placement.
Transparency duties
Limited-risk systems — such as chatbots and certain generated content — must disclose that AI is in use and meet transparency requirements.
Provider vs deployer
Providers (who place systems on the market) carry more duties than deployers (who use them), but deployers still have obligations, including human oversight and monitoring in high-risk cases.
Preparing now
Inventory and classify your AI uses, document decisions, and align controls with NIST AI RMF or ISO/IEC 42001 — the same foundations that support EU AI Act readiness.
Frequently asked questions
Does the EU AI Act apply to us?
It applies to providers that place AI systems on the EU market (or put them into service there), to deployers established in the EU, and to providers or deployers outside the EU where the AI system's output is used in the EU. Scope depends on your role (provider vs deployer) and use case — verify it for each system.
What counts as high-risk?
The Act lists high-risk categories (for example, certain employment, education, critical-infrastructure, and biometric uses). Correct classification is essential.
How do we prepare efficiently?
Inventory and classify, document decisions, and align to a recognized framework such as NIST AI RMF or ISO/IEC 42001. Those foundations map well to the Act's requirements.