EU AI Act glossary · Core concepts· Art. 3(1)
AI system
An AI system is a machine-based system that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers from its input how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments.
The definition (Article 3(1)) is deliberately broad and technology-neutral, aligned with the OECD definition. Its key feature is inference — the ability to derive outputs from inputs — which distinguishes an AI system from ordinary deterministic software.
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