AIRiskAware
AI Governance Glossary
Governance Concept

What Is AI System?

AI System is under the EU AI Act, a machine-based system designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy, that may exhibit adaptiveness after deployment, and that โ€” for explicit or implicit objectives โ€” infers from the input it receives how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments.

Definition

AI System โ€” under the EU AI Act, a machine-based system designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy, that may exhibit adaptiveness after deployment, and that โ€” for explicit or implicit objectives โ€” infers from the input it receives how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments.

This is the EU AI Act's legal definition (Article 3(1)), deliberately aligned with the OECD's, and it sets the Act's scope. The emphasis on "inference" and "autonomy" is meant to capture machine-learning and many logic- or knowledge-based systems while excluding simpler, fully deterministic software. Whether a given tool meets this definition is the first question in any EU AI Act assessment.

Source: EU AI Act, Article 3(1)

Plain-language explanation

This is the EU AI Act's legal definition (Article 3(1)), deliberately aligned with the OECD's, and it sets the Act's scope. The emphasis on "inference" and "autonomy" is meant to capture machine-learning and many logic- or knowledge-based systems while excluding simpler, fully deterministic software. Whether a given tool meets this definition is the first question in any EU AI Act assessment.

Primary source: EU AI Act, Article 3(1)

Related terms

EU AI Act AI Risk Tiers General-Purpose AI (GPAI) Foundation Model

See where you stand on AI governance

Take the free 7-question maturity assessment and get a personalised action plan.

Free assessment โ€” 3 minutes โ†’