EU AI Act

What the EU AI Act governs

The EU AI Act is the regulation that governs the use of artificial intelligence. It is the first comprehensive legal framework of its kind and applies not only to the makers of AI systems but to anyone using them professionally. A shop using an AI tool for copy, images, recommendations or customer enquiries therefore falls inside its scope.

The risk levels

The regulation works with four levels. Prohibited practices, such as systems for manipulation or social scoring, are banned. High risk systems are allowed but tied to extensive duties, for instance in medicine or in hiring decisions. Systems with limited risk, which covers most uses in retail, carry mainly transparency duties. Minimal risk systems such as spam filters stay unrestricted.

For online retail the third level is almost always the relevant one. A recommendation engine or a chatbot therefore does not trigger an approval, but it does trigger the duty to inform users.

Transparency duties in practice

• Chatbots: users have to be able to tell that they are writing to a system and not to a person.
• Synthetic content: when images, video or audio are produced with AI, that has to be recognisable as artificially generated.
• Text: for text that informs the public, the labelling duty applies when the content is published without editorial review.
• Deepfakes: content depicting a real person has to be labelled regardless.

What that means for a shop

Four measures cover the essentials. First an inventory of the AI tools in use with purpose and provider. Second rules on who may review results before publication. Third a labelling practice the operation actually follows, whether in the alt text, as a note on the page or in the metadata. Fourth the anchoring of these duties in the contract with the provider, so that they do not stay with the shop even though the technical implementation sits with the service.

Frequent questions

• When does the AI Act apply? It entered into force in August 2024 and becomes applicable in stages. Prohibitions apply early, transparency duties follow later.
• Does it concern small shops? Yes, the duties follow the use, not the size.
• Does it cover advertising copy? Yes, as soon as content is distributed publicly.