High‑risk AI
AI uses with potential for severe or large‑scale harm.
How the laws define this
Regulators universally identify high-risk AI as systems whose deployment can cause severe impacts on health, physical safety, fundamental rights, or critical infrastructure, thereby triggering enhanced obligations such as risk management, pre-deployment assessments, and ongoing oversight. The primary divergence lies in how high-risk status is defined and detailed. Legislation like the AI Industry Promotion and Trust-Building Bill, the Artificial Intelligence Responsibility Act (AI Responsibility Bill), and the AI Responsibility and Regulation Bill explicitly list high-impact sectors or applications, including healthcare, employment, biometrics, and finance. Conversely, the Proposals Paper for Introducing Mandatory Guardrails for AI in High-Risk Settings and the Draft ETDA Notification regarding AI Risk Assessment focus on general harm thresholds, assessing physical, psychological, economic, or societal severity across the AI lifecycle. Additionally, frameworks like the German AI Standardisation Roadmap (DIN/DKE) align directly with the EU AI Act's approach, whereas the Draft Principles for AI Legislation delegate the identification of specific high-risk categories to sectoral regulators via subordinate instruments.
Synthesised from the 13 statutory definitions below. Each one is quoted in full, with its source.
How jurisdictions differ
What is distinctive in each definition, binding law in force first. Showing 10 of the 13 instruments that define this term; all are listed under Definitions below.
| Jurisdiction | Instrument | Status | What is distinctive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | Advisory Board for Artificial Intelligence | In Force | Explicitly adopts EU AI Act approach, emphasizing substantial safety risks or significant fundamental rights implications requiring heightened oversight and conformity assessment. |
| Slovakia | Standing Commission for Ethics and Regulation of Artificial Intelligence (CERAI) | In Force | Limits to deployments materially affecting safety, fundamental rights, or essential services, with impact assessment recommended under non-binding CERAI guidance. |
| South Korea | AI Industry Promotion and Trust-Building Bill | Proposed | Specifies sectors like healthcare, finance, employment, and critical infrastructure as triggers for designation and heightened obligations. |
| Thailand | Draft Royal Decree on Business Operations Using Artificial Intelligence Systems | Draft | Adds mandatory registration and ongoing supervisory obligations for systems posing risks to safety, rights, or critical public interests. |
| Germany | German AI Standardisation Roadmap (DIN/DKE) — Roadmap for AI standardisation and conformity | Adopted | Focuses on standardisation, guiding prioritisation of testing, certification, and liability mitigation informed by EU AI Act classification. |
| Nigeria | National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (NAIS) | Adopted | Includes national critical infrastructure alongside rights and safety, with recommended registration and algorithmic impact assessments under the non-binding strategy. |
| Thailand | Draft ETDA Notification regarding AI Risk Assessment | Draft | Emphasizes malfunction, bias, or erroneous outputs causing physical, psychological, economic, or societal harm, under draft notification. |
| Austria | Strategy of the Federal Government for Artificial Intelligence – Implementation Plan 2024 | Adopted | Directly references EU AI Act category for systems affecting health, safety, legal status, or rights with stricter oversight. |
| South Korea | Artificial Intelligence Responsibility Act | Withdrawn | Provides examples like biometric identification, critical infrastructure, and state investigative uses, with pre-deployment assessments and monitoring. |
| South Korea | AI Responsibility and Regulation Bill | Withdrawn | Lists critical sectors such as energy, water, medical care, transport, and public systems requiring safety testing and verification. |
What it triggers
- Under Section 20c of the KommAustria-Gesetz, high-risk AI requires heightened oversight, conformity assessment and mitigation measures.source
- Under CERAI guidance, high-risk AI deployments are subject to enhanced oversight, impact assessment, and risk mitigation recommendations.source
- In the Artificial Intelligence Responsibility Act, high-risk AI would have required enhanced pre-deployment assessments, safeguards, monitoring, documentation, and transparency obligations.source
Definitions (13)
A principles‑based category focused on AI systems whose use, given context and deployment, could result in significant severity or scale of harm (including impacts to safety, health, fundamental rights, or critical services). The designation is determined by assessing potential harms across the AI lifecycle and supply chain, not solely by technical characteristics.
A working classification adopted by the amendment that follows the approach of the EU AI Act to denote AI systems whose deployment presents substantial safety risks or significant implications for fundamental rights, and which therefore require heightened oversight, conformity assessment and mitigation measures under applicable law.
A category of AI systems referenced in alignment with the EU AI Act, encompassing systems whose use may substantially affect health, safety, legal status or fundamental rights and which are therefore subject to stricter regulatory obligations and oversight.
Systems classified by the draft as posing significant potential impact on health, safety, fundamental rights, or critical infrastructure; such systems are subject to enhanced obligations including pre‑deployment conformity assessments, detailed technical documentation, logging, registration, mandatory Fundamental Rights Impact Assessments, and post‑market monitoring.
AI systems deployed in sectors or applications that may substantially affect life, safety, fundamental rights, public order, or other high‑impact outcomes (e.g., healthcare, finance, employment, critical infrastructure); designation triggers heightened obligations such as risk management, prior notice, documentation, and conformity assessment.
A legal category covering AI applications and deployments that impose a significant risk to life, bodily integrity, property, or fundamental rights; examples cited include biometric identification, critical infrastructure control, personnel assessment, emergency services, credit or essential public services, and state investigative/immigration uses. Systems classified as high‑risk are subject to enhanced pre‑deployment assessments, mandatory technical and organizational safeguards, ongoing monitoring, documentation, and stricter transparency and conformity obligations.
AI systems classified as likely to materially affect fundamental rights, safety, health, or critical interests and therefore subject to enhanced obligations (risk frameworks, documentation, pre‑deployment testing, registration, and conformity assessment). Sectoral regulators will define specific high‑risk categories in subordinate instruments.
AI systems that, by virtue of their purpose or application, can have significant impacts on safety or fundamental rights; classification is informed by the EU AI Act and guides prioritisation of standards, conformity assessment and regulatory controls. The Roadmap uses this category to focus testing, certification and liability mitigation measures for systems with elevated risk.
AI systems characterised by their potential impact on fundamental rights, public safety, essential services, or national critical infrastructure; such classification triggers enhanced compliance obligations under the strategy (e.g., registration, mandatory algorithmic impact assessments, audits, and remediation).
Deployments of AI that materially affect safety, fundamental rights, or essential services and therefore require enhanced oversight, mandatory impact assessment, and risk mitigation measures under CERAI guidance.
AI systems that materially affect life, safety, health, or basic rights and that operate in critical sectors (e.g., energy, water, medical care and devices, critical infrastructure, employment/credit decisions, transport, and public sector systems), subject to mandatory impact assessments, prior verification, safety testing, and stricter transparency and mitigation requirements.
Classes of AI systems identified as posing significant risks to safety, fundamental rights, access to essential services, or other critical public interests; such systems are subject to mandatory registration, enhanced risk‑management, conformity assessment, and ongoing supervisory obligations.
AI systems whose malfunction, biased operation, or erroneous outputs could cause significant physical, psychological, economic, or societal harm to individuals or groups; such systems are subject to enhanced assessment, monitoring, mitigation, and potential regulatory oversight under the notification.
Not to be confused with
High-impact AI specifies systems in critical sectors, while high-risk AI more broadly covers uses with potential for severe or large-scale harm across contexts.
High-risk application focuses on specific AI uses with significant impacts, whereas high-risk AI denotes systems or deployments more generally.
Questions and answers
What obligations apply to high-risk AI in Austria?
High-risk AI systems require heightened oversight, conformity assessment and mitigation measures under the KommAustria-Gesetz. This follows the EU AI Act approach for systems with substantial safety risks or fundamental rights implications.
Which sectors trigger high-risk AI classification?
Sectors like healthcare, finance, employment, critical infrastructure in South Korea's bills, or energy, medical care, transport in other proposals designate AI as high-risk. Examples also include biometric identification and state investigative uses.
Does high-risk AI status impose mandatory duties in non-binding instruments?
Policies and guidelines like CERAI or German AI Standardisation Roadmap describe enhanced oversight or assessments for high-risk AI but impose no binding duties.
Related Terms
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