Commission publishes Guidelines on the definition of an artificial intelligence system established by the AI Act

The European Commission has published Guidelines on the definition of an artificial intelligence system established by Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act).

Article 3(I) of the AI Act defines an artificial intelligence system as having seven elements; a machine-based system that is designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy and that may exhibit adaptiveness after deployment, and that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments.

The Guidelines examine each of the elements from a lifecycle-based perspective encompassing a pre-deployment phase and a post-deployment, or use, phase. They underline that all seven elements found in the definition of an AI system are not required to be present continuously throughout both phases of that lifecycle. Instead, the Guidelines acknowledges that specific elements may appear at one phase, but may not persist across both phases.

This approach is intended to define an AI system, to reflect the complexity and diversity of AI systems, and to ensure that the definition aligns with the AI Act's objectives by accommodating a wide range of AI systems.