A Five-Question EU AI Act Checklist for Your Team

Compliance gets simpler when you start with the right questions. Here are five.

One: does our AI touch anyone in the EU? If yes, keep going. If no, you can relax, mostly.

Two: does it do anything on the banned list, like social scoring or real-time face recognition in public? If yes, stop doing that first.

Three: does it make decisions about jobs, schooling, credit, or benefits? If yes, it's probably high-risk, and there's homework attached.

Four: did we build it or buy it? Builders and buyers carry different duties under the Act. Know which one you are.

Five: can we show our work? Documentation, testing notes, records of decisions. If the answer is no, that's your next project.

Five questions, one honest afternoon with your team. That's where compliance actually starts.

I explain frameworks; I don't give legal counsel.