AI Act (EU AI Regulation)
The AI Act is the European law that sets rules for the use of AI, from light transparency duties for everyday applications up to strict requirements for high-risk applications.
The law works with risk classes. Banned are, for example, social scoring and manipulative systems. High risk covers applications around recruitment, credit, education and essential services; there, requirements apply to documentation, human oversight and data quality. Everything below that, such as an agent that prepares quotes or sorts mail, falls under the light rules: say it is AI where people talk to it and make sure your team knows what it is using.
For an SME the practical core is small: know which AI you use, ensure AI literacy among the people working with it, be transparent to customers and keep a human in control of decisions about people. The GDPR continues to apply alongside it.
Other terms
AI literacy
AI literacy is the ability of staff to understand what the AI they use can do, what it cannot and where the risks are. Since 2 February 2025 the AI Act requires organisations to ensure it.
AI readiness
AI readiness is the degree to which a company is ready to use AI meaningfully: are the processes clear, is the data reachable and are the people prepared.
API
An API (application programming interface) is the official entrance through which software talks to other software: fetching, creating or changing data without a human clicking.
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