Power2Idea AI

EU AI Act FAQ: What is high-risk, prohibited, and what should you do first?

A practical EU AI Act FAQ focused on classification: prohibited practices, Annex III high-risk signals, and Article 50 transparency obligations.

Thu Jan 22 2026 • EU AI Act, High-risk, Prohibited, Transparency, Compliance

Start here: classify fast

If you're trying to answer: does this system trigger EU AI Act prohibited / high-risk / transparency obligations?

Use the tool:

  • EU AI Act Risk Classifier: /eu-ai-act
EU AI Act FAQ: What is high-risk, prohibited, and what should you do first? — architecture diagram 1
A practical EU AI Act FAQ focused on classification: prohibited practices, Annex III high-risk signals, and Article 50 transparency obligations.
Mermaid source
flowchart LR\n  A[Paste system spec] --> B[Fact extraction]\n  B --> C[Deterministic evaluator]\n  C --> D[Audit-style report]\n  D --> E[Follow-ups only if needed]

FAQ

What is the EU AI Act trying to classify?

At a high level, many teams first need a fast triage:

  • Prohibited practices (stop-and-review category)
  • High-risk (Annex III signal)
  • Transparency obligations (Article 50 signals)
  • Unknown (insufficient facts → follow-up questions)

What does “deterministic” mean here?

It means the output is based on explicit rules and explicit facts (yes/no/unknown), not probabilistic text guesses.

What should I do first as a product team?

  • Create a short system spec describing purpose, users, and what decisions it affects.
  • Run it through the classifier: /eu-ai-act
  • If result is UNKNOWN, answer the follow-ups until classification stabilizes.

Is this legal advice?

No. It’s a deterministic decision-support workflow that helps you get to the right review track.

Next guides

  • EU AI Act: prohibited practices overview → /policy-guides/eu-ai-act-prohibited
  • EU AI Act: Annex III high-risk overview → /policy-guides/eu-ai-act-high-risk
  • EU AI Act: transparency obligations overview → /policy-guides/eu-ai-act-transparency