On 1 August 2024, the AI Act entered into force, marking a significant milestone in the EU's efforts to regulate artificial intelligence. This followed the establishment of the European AI Office in May 2024, which is tasked with ensuring the consistent application of the Act across Member States and providing guidance on its implementation. To prepare for the application of rules addressing high-risk AI systems and practices posing unacceptable risks, set to take effect on 2 February 2025, the European Commission launched targeted stakeholder consultation. These consultations aim to refine guidelines and support the development of codes of practice, paving the way for the Act's full implementation by 2026. In furtherance of the above, the Commission launched a Multi-Stakeholder Consultation for Commission Guidelines on the Application of the Definition of an AI System and the Prohibited AI Practices Established in the AI Act on 13 November 2024, to which the ELI contributed.

ELI is extremely grateful to Prof Dr Christiane Wendehorst, ELI’s Scientific Director and Mr Bernhard Nessler, Research Manager Intelligent Systems and Certification of AI at the Software Competence Center Hagenberg (SCCH), lecturer at the Institute for Machine Learning at Johannes Kepler University Linz and Vice-President of the Austrian Society for Artificial Intelligence (ASAI), who drafted the Response, and to ELI’s President, Prof Dr Pascal Pichonnaz, ELI Executive Member Prof Dr Teresa Rodríguez de las Heras Ballell, Judge Marc Clément, Prof Dr Piotr Machnikowski and Dr Rania Wazir for their helpful feedback on the draft Response.

ELI’s Response is available here.