EU AI Act FAQ
What is the EU AI Act?
Quick answer
The EU AI Act regulates AI according to its intended use and the role of the organisation involved. It prohibits certain practices and sets requirements for high-risk systems, specified transparency situations and general-purpose AI models. It can apply to Irish businesses using AI as well as businesses supplying it.
How the requirements fit together
Risk categories are a useful introduction, but they are not mutually exclusive compliance boxes. A system may have transparency duties alongside high-risk requirements, while AI literacy and other laws can still matter for a lower-risk use. High-risk classification depends on Article 6 and the precise product or use case. A whole sector is not automatically high-risk, and buying an ordinary drafting assistant does not automatically make a business a general-purpose model provider.
What an Irish business should do
Describe each use and identify the provider, deployer and any other relevant role. Check prohibited practices first, then high-risk classification and any specific transparency duty. Establish the applicable date and transition provisions. Record who controls the inputs, who reviews outputs and what the supplier supplies. A practical inventory helps organise this work; the Act does not require every business to buy a register platform or obtain a generic AI compliance certificate.
Reviewed 4 October 2026. Sources: Commission AI Act overview and timetable, classification, deployer duties, literacy guidance and AI Office of Ireland.
Acuity AI helps Irish organisations understand and meet their EU AI Act obligations under the current framework. See our EU AI Act compliance services.