What Is Intended Purpose?
Intended Purpose is under the EU AI Act, the use for which an AI system is intended by its provider, including the specific context and conditions of use set out in the provider's instructions, marketing, and technical documentation.
Intended Purpose — under the EU AI Act, the use for which an AI system is intended by its provider, including the specific context and conditions of use set out in the provider's instructions, marketing, and technical documentation.
Intended purpose is a load-bearing concept: it shapes whether a system is high-risk, what the risk management and testing must cover, and what counts as misuse. Using a system outside its intended purpose can shift legal responsibility, and is a common source of governance failure when teams repurpose tools without revisiting the analysis.
Source: EU AI Act, Article 3(12)
Plain-language explanation
Intended purpose is a load-bearing concept: it shapes whether a system is high-risk, what the risk management and testing must cover, and what counts as misuse. Using a system outside its intended purpose can shift legal responsibility, and is a common source of governance failure when teams repurpose tools without revisiting the analysis.
Related terms
See where you stand on AI governance
Take the free 7-question maturity assessment and get a personalised action plan.
Free assessment — 3 minutes →