General

Pilot projects

Funded proof-of-concept implementations with evaluation metrics.

How the laws define this

Consistently understood as time-limited technical implementations or proofs of concept, pilot projects evaluate feasibility, safety, technical assumptions, and governance arrangements prior to scaling or wider deployment. Each framework emphasizes assessing legal compliance, ethical safeguards, and operational performance within controlled or real environments. The frameworks diverge primarily in their operational scope, required documentation, and formal preconditions for scaling. FARI emphasizes funded portfolio initiatives using project templates, risk assessments, data management plans, and ethical checklists to measure social impact. Assumptions to AI Strategy in Poland targets public-sector or cross-sector deployments meant to produce reusable datasets, evaluation lessons, and scaling templates. In contrast, the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Romania and Google focuses on co-designed technical implementations that explicitly mandate data protection impact assessments along with subsequent procurement or legal approvals before any expanded deployment can occur.

Synthesised from the 3 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 2 of the 3 instruments that define this term; all are listed under Definitions below.

Jurisdiction	Instrument	Status	What is distinctive
Romania	Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Romania and Google (15 July 2024) — cooperation on digital infrastructure, cloud, cybersecurity and use of advanced technologies including AI	In Force	This definition highlights co-design with Google under the MoU, DPIAs, and evaluation of governance arrangements alongside technical aspects.
Poland	Assumptions to AI Strategy in Poland (Proposition for an AI Strategy; Plan of activities of the Ministry of Digital Affairs)	Adopted	This definition highlights cross-sector involvement, production of reusable datasets, evaluation lessons, and templates specifically for scaling AI strategies.

Definitions (3)

Time‑bounded, funded proof‑of‑concept implementations organized under FARI’s portfolio approach that follow project templates including objectives, KPIs, ethical and legal checklists, risk assessments and data management plans to evaluate feasibility, social impact and legal compliance.

FARI – Artificial Intelligence for the Common Good Institute (Brussels AI institute / roadmap)Definition 1 of 3

Time‑limited public-sector or cross‑sector demonstrator deployments designed to test technical approaches, governance arrangements, contractual terms and legal/ethical safeguards in real operational environments, with the aim of producing reusable datasets, evaluation lessons and templates for scaling.

Assumptions to AI Strategy in Poland (Proposition for an AI Strategy; Plan of activities of the Ministry of Digital Affairs)Definition 2 of 3

Any limited-scope technical implementation co-designed under the MoU used to validate technical assumptions and governance arrangements; typically time-limited proof-of-concept projects that require DPIAs and subsequent procurement or legal approvals before scaling. Pilots serve to evaluate safety, performance metrics, and operational feasability prior to wider deployment.

Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Romania and Google (15 July 2024) — cooperation on digital infrastructure, cloud, cybersecurity and use of advanced technologies including AIDefinition 3 of 3

Not to be confused with

Pilots

Pilots are broader time-limited evaluations of AI systems, while these definitions specify funded, structured implementations with evaluation metrics in policy contexts.

AI Pilots

AI Pilots focus on controlled testing of AI systems, whereas these emphasize policy-driven, time-bound proofs-of-concept with governance and scaling prep.

Questions and answers

What makes a project a pilot under the Romania-Google MoU?

Under the Romania-Google MoU, pilots are limited-scope implementations co-designed to validate technical and governance aspects, needing DPIAs and approvals before scaling.

How do Polish AI strategy pilots support scaling?

Polish strategy pilots test in real environments to produce reusable datasets, lessons, and templates for broader deployment.

Do these pilot definitions require legal approvals?

The Romania MoU definition mentions subsequent procurement or legal approvals before scaling pilots; the Polish one focuses on testing safeguards.