Glossary

Key EU AI Act terms in plain language, linked to the articles that define them.

AI literacy: The skills, knowledge and understanding that providers and deployers must foster in their staff to make informed use of AI systems (Article 4).
AI system: A machine-based system that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers from its input how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments (Article 3).
Annex III: The list of use-case areas — biometrics, critical infrastructure, education, employment, essential services, law enforcement, migration, and justice — that make an AI system high-risk under Article 6(2).
Conformity assessment: The process of verifying that a high-risk AI system meets the Act's requirements before it is placed on the market, leading to CE marking (Article 43).
Deployer: A natural or legal person using an AI system under its authority, except for purely personal non-professional use (Article 3). Deployers of high-risk systems have their own obligations (Article 26).
Fundamental rights impact assessment (FRIA): An assessment certain deployers of high-risk AI systems must perform to identify the system's impact on fundamental rights and the measures to address it (Article 27).
General-purpose AI (GPAI) model: An AI model trained on broad data that displays significant generality and can perform a wide range of tasks, regardless of how it is placed on the market (Article 3). Providers have dedicated obligations under Articles 53–55.
High-risk AI system: An AI system that poses a significant risk to health, safety or fundamental rights — either as a safety component under Annex I, or because it is used in an Annex III area. Subject to the Act's strictest obligations (Article 6).
Prohibited AI practice: An AI use the EU deems an unacceptable risk and bans outright — e.g. manipulative techniques, social scoring, or most real-time remote biometric identification in public (Article 5).
Provider: A natural or legal person that develops an AI system or model — or has one developed — and places it on the market or puts it into service under its own name or trademark (Article 3).
Systemic risk: Risk specific to the most capable GPAI models (e.g. those trained with more than 10²⁵ FLOPs or designated by the Commission), which carry extra evaluation, mitigation and reporting duties (Article 55).
Transparency obligation: The duty to tell people they are interacting with an AI system and to mark AI-generated or manipulated content, including deepfakes, as such (Article 50).