intended purpose
In plain wordsThe use a maker says its AI system is meant for. In EU law, the rules that apply to a system depend largely on this declared purpose.
Under the EU AI ActEU AI Act, prop. n.: The European Union's law on artificial intelligence, the first broad AI law anywhere: it bans some uses, sets strict checks for risky ones and puts duties on the makers of the biggest AI models., what the provider says an AI systemAI system, n.: A complete piece of technology that uses AI to do something, such as screening loan applications, driving a car or chatting with customers, including the AI model and the software around it. is for, together with the particular setting and conditions in which it is meant to be used, as shown by the provider's instructions for use, its marketing and sales claims and the technical documentation. Intended purpose largely determines a system's legal classification — whether it falls under an Annex III high-riskhigh-risk AI system, n.: Under EU law, an AI system used where mistakes could seriously hurt people's safety or rights — in hiring, schooling, loans, policing, borders or products like medical devices — and which must therefore pass strict checks. use — and the scope of its risk management and conformity assessmentconformity assessment, n.: The check, done by the maker or by an approved outside body, that a high-risk AI system meets the EU's legal requirements before it can be sold or used.. Providers must also allow for 'reasonably foreseeable misuse': uses outside the intended purpose that can be expected given how people typically behave or how the system may interact with other systems, including other AI. Changing a system's intended purpose so that it becomes high-risk makes whoever changed it the provider.
The vendor's documentation limits the intended purpose to internal search, so CV screening is outside it.
Origin
Taken from EU product-safety law, especially medical-device regulation, where the manufacturer's stated intended purpose defines the product's regulatory class; carried into the 2021 AI Act proposal.
Usage note
Hard to apply to general-purpose AIgeneral-purpose AI, n.: AI that can do a wide range of different tasks, like writing, coding, translating and analyzing images, rather than the one job it was built for. Today's chatbots are the main example., which has no single intended purpose — one reason the Act regulates general-purpose AI modelsgeneral-purpose AI model, n.: The EU's legal name for the large, adaptable AI models behind chatbots and similar tools: models that can turn their hand to many different jobs and be built into many other products. on a separate track.
Related
- high-risk AI systemhigh-risk AI system, n.: Under EU law, an AI system used where mistakes could seriously hurt people's safety or rights — in hiring, schooling, loans, policing, borders or products like medical devices — and which must therefore pass strict checks.
- provider and deployerprovider and deployer, phr.: The two main roles in EU AI law: the provider is whoever makes an AI system and puts it out under its own name; the deployer is whoever uses it for work or official purposes.
- substantial modificationsubstantial modification, n.: A change to an AI system after release that is big enough, under EU law, to require a fresh check — and that can make whoever made the change legally responsible as its maker.
- conformity assessmentconformity assessment, n.: The check, done by the maker or by an approved outside body, that a high-risk AI system meets the EU's legal requirements before it can be sold or used.
- general-purpose AI modelgeneral-purpose AI model, n.: The EU's legal name for the large, adaptable AI models behind chatbots and similar tools: models that can turn their hand to many different jobs and be built into many other products.
Defined in law or standards
EU AI Act (Reg. (EU) 2024/1689), Art. 3(12) ('intended purpose'), Art. 3(13) ('reasonably foreseeable misuse'); Art. 25(1)(c)