We audited our own EU AI Act check against the text of the regulation, and it went from five questions to nine
We publish a free check so anyone can find out what the EU Artificial Intelligence Act requires of them. We've now run the whole thing against the text of the regulation again, article by article, and a new version has come out of it: where there were five questions there are now nine, even if hardly anyone sees all of them, because the path gets shorter as soon as it's clear what doesn't apply to you.
We're writing about it because the result of that review is more interesting than the change itself. A compliance check that gets things wrong isn't neutral: it reassures the people who shouldn't be reassured, and that does more damage than having no check at all.
What was missing from the questions
The new questions aren't padding. Each one exists because without it the result could come out wrong in a perfectly ordinary case.
- Whose the chat on your website is. One you built isn't the same as one you bought that introduces itself with your name and your brand: the notice that there's a machine behind it belongs to the deployer, and that shifts case by case.
- What your images, videos and voices are like. Whether they're realistic or clearly illustrations, because that's what decides whether a disclosure is needed.
- What your AI-assisted text is about. The regulation separates your own company's communications from information of public interest, and it doesn't ask the same of the two.
- What you have in writing. A use policy, a training record, an inventory of where AI sits, reviewed supplier contracts. That's what you show if somebody asks.
Three rules that don't get touched when writing it
A check like this can be written in many ways and nearly all of them are worse. These three are written into the code itself, so they don't get lost when somebody edits it six months from now.
- It never says "you comply" or "you don't comply". It says which obligations apply and whose they are. A nine-question form is in no position to certify anything.
- No figure for a fine appears. Not one. What's on offer is order and control, not fear.
- No badge is promised. No official one exists, and pretending otherwise would be exactly the problem we're trying to solve.
And the part people thank us for: what doesn't apply
The result isn't only a list of duties. It also says which obligations don't land on you and why, with the reason alongside. That sounds like a minor detail and it isn't: a good part of the alarm going around consists of attributing to a small business obligations the regulation reserves for whoever builds models or deploys high-risk systems. Knowing what doesn't apply to you is what stops it being sold to you.
Free, complete and with no sign-up
The full result appears on screen without asking for anything: no email, no account, no "leave us your details to see the report". You can have it by email if you want, but that's your decision and not a toll. It takes about two minutes and it isn't legal advice, which the page also says before you start.
If there are terms you don't recognise when you finish, the AI glossary explains them in plain language, with no technical boilerplate.
Run it yourself at the EU AI Act check. Nine questions at most, and the result shows in full.