Early bird: 30% off your first twelve months when you sign by 31 October 2026See plans
Habicht AI LogoHabichtAI
DEEN
Secure early access
HabichtAI
ComplianceFeaturesHabichtLLMPricingSecure early access
DeutschEnglish
EU AI Act quick check

EU AI Act quick check: which obligations apply to your AI use?

The EU AI Act assigns AI applications to four risk levels (from minimal through limited and high risk to prohibited practices) and attaches graduated obligations. Most obligations have applied since 2 August 2026; transition periods for certain high-risk systems run until 2027 (Art. 113, Regulation (EU) 2024/1689). This quick check gives you a first assessment of your use case in a few minutes.

Goshawk with a wide view, standing for an overview of regulatory obligations. Image generated with AI.
In 2 minutes

Quick check: your indicative risk class

Answer five short questions about your AI use. You get an indicative classification into one of the four AI Act risk levels.

1Do you use AI for any of these practices? Social scoring by authorities, manipulative influence, untargeted facial scraping, or emotion recognition in the workplace or in education.
2Is the AI used in any of these sensitive areas? Recruitment/HR, creditworthiness/insurance, critical infrastructure, law enforcement/justice, migration/border control, access to essential services, education/exams, or biometric identification.
3Does the AI interact directly with people (e.g. a chatbot) or generate text, images or audio (including “deepfakes”)?
4Does the AI process personal data in doing so?
5Do you develop or distribute the AI yourself (as a provider), not just deploy it (as a deployer)?

This quick check is a non-binding orientation and does not replace legal advice. The wording of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 prevails; classification in individual cases should be done with expert advice.

Risk levels

What the four risk classes mean

Level 1

Minimal risk

No specific AI Act obligations; voluntary codes of conduct are recommended.

Level 2

Limited risk

Transparency obligations: people must be able to tell they are interacting with AI or that content is AI-generated.

Level 3

High risk

Strictest obligations: risk management, technical documentation, human oversight and conformity assessment.

Level 4

Prohibited

Practices banned under the EU AI Act (Art. 5). Such use is not permitted.

Checklist

The key AI Act steps as a checklist

For your internal preparation: compact, tick-as-you-go and save as PDF. Freely accessible, no sign-up.

As of June 2026 · Basis: Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (EU AI Act)

Prefer the checklist by email? That consent-based option is coming soon.

1 · Inventory your AI use cases

2 · Determine the risk class

3 · Obligations for high-risk systems

4 · Transparency obligations (limited risk)

5 · General-purpose AI (GPAI)

6 · Data protection & governance

Key dates

  • 02/2025: ban on unacceptable practices (Art. 5) takes effect.
  • 08/2025: obligations for general-purpose AI apply.
  • 08/2026: obligations for most high-risk systems apply in full.
  • 08/2027: transition periods for certain product-related high-risk systems end.

This checklist is a first orientation and does not constitute legal advice. The applicable wording of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 prevails; classification in individual cases should be done with expert advice.

How Habicht helps

Risk class and evidence: built in instead of pieced together afterwards.

Habicht automatically classifies every AI use case by risk class and produces the corresponding documentation. The obligation becomes a button press.

Secure early accessMore on GDPR-compliant AI
FAQ

Frequently asked questions on the EU AI Act

In stages: prohibited practices since February 2025, obligations for general-purpose AI since August 2025; for most high-risk systems the obligations apply in full from August 2026.
AI in sensitive areas: such as recruitment, credit scoring, critical infrastructure, law enforcement or biometric identification. It is subject to the strictest obligations: documentation, oversight and conformity assessment.
No. It is a non-binding orientation and does not replace legal advice. Classification in individual cases should be done with expert advice.
Not necessarily. But a platform with built-in risk classification and automatic documentation reduces the effort considerably.

See Habicht in your own environment.

A short demo, tailored to your use case: on-premise, hybrid or in the EU cloud.

Secure early accessDownload the checklist