The EU AI Act is the most comprehensive AI regulation in the world. First proposed in April 2021, it enters full enforcement for high-risk AI systems in August 2026. Every company that deploys AI in the European Union — or serves EU customers — needs to understand what is required.
Who is affected
The EU AI Act applies to providers and deployers of AI systems in the EU market. This includes:
- Companies headquartered in the EU that build or use AI
- Non-EU companies whose AI systems affect people in the EU
- Companies that import or distribute AI systems in the EU
If your SaaS product serves European customers and uses AI features — recommendations, content generation, automated decisions — you are likely in scope.
What is required
The Act creates a risk-based classification system:
Unacceptable risk (banned): Social scoring, real-time biometric surveillance in public spaces, AI that exploits vulnerabilities.
High risk: AI used in employment decisions, creditworthiness assessment, education, law enforcement, and critical infrastructure. These systems must meet documentation, transparency, human oversight, and accuracy requirements.
Limited risk: Systems like chatbots that must disclose they are AI. Deepfakes must be labeled.
Minimal risk: No specific requirements beyond existing law.
Key requirements for high-risk systems
Companies deploying high-risk AI must:
- Maintain technical documentation describing the system
- Implement quality management systems
- Keep logs for traceability
- Provide clear information to users
- Enable human oversight
- Ensure accuracy, robustness, and cybersecurity
How to prepare
Start with documentation. The companies that will be ready in August are the ones building their compliance posture now.
AI Clear's scoring framework maps directly to the EU AI Act's transparency and documentation requirements. Getting scored identifies gaps in your public AI documentation — the same gaps regulators will look for.
The full AI Clear methodology is published at aiclear.org/methodology, and every company in the registry has a public score at aiclear.org/registry.
See where your company stands
AI Clear scores companies on AI transparency. Search the registry or request your scorecard.