Self-Service or Not? How to Guide Practitioners in Classifying AI Systems Under the EU AI Act

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Schnitzer, Ronald, Hoeving, Maximilian, Zillner, Sonja
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Schnitzer, Ronald
Hoeving, Maximilian
Zillner, Sonja
author_facet Schnitzer, Ronald
Hoeving, Maximilian
Zillner, Sonja
contents In August 2024, the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) came into force, marking the world's first large-scale regulatory framework for AI. Central to the AIA is a risk-based approach, aligning regulatory obligations with the potential harm posed by AI systems. To operationalize this, the AIA defines a Risk Classification Scheme (RCS), categorizing systems into four levels of risk. While this aligns with the theoretical foundations of risk-based regulations, the practical application of the RCS is complex and requires expertise across legal, technical, and domain-specific areas. Despite increasing academic discussion, little empirical research has explored how practitioners apply the RCS in real-world contexts. This study addresses this gap by evaluating how industrial practitioners apply the RCS using a self-service, web-based decision-support tool. Following a Design Science Research (DSR) approach, two evaluation phases involving 78 practitioners across diverse domains were conducted. Our findings highlight critical challenges in interpreting legal definitions and regulatory scope, and show that targeted support, such as clear explanations and practical examples, can significantly enhance the risk classification process. The study provides actionable insights for tool designers and policymakers aiming to support AIA compliance in practice.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_00065
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Self-Service or Not? How to Guide Practitioners in Classifying AI Systems Under the EU AI Act
Schnitzer, Ronald
Hoeving, Maximilian
Zillner, Sonja
Computers and Society
Artificial Intelligence
Human-Computer Interaction
In August 2024, the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) came into force, marking the world's first large-scale regulatory framework for AI. Central to the AIA is a risk-based approach, aligning regulatory obligations with the potential harm posed by AI systems. To operationalize this, the AIA defines a Risk Classification Scheme (RCS), categorizing systems into four levels of risk. While this aligns with the theoretical foundations of risk-based regulations, the practical application of the RCS is complex and requires expertise across legal, technical, and domain-specific areas. Despite increasing academic discussion, little empirical research has explored how practitioners apply the RCS in real-world contexts. This study addresses this gap by evaluating how industrial practitioners apply the RCS using a self-service, web-based decision-support tool. Following a Design Science Research (DSR) approach, two evaluation phases involving 78 practitioners across diverse domains were conducted. Our findings highlight critical challenges in interpreting legal definitions and regulatory scope, and show that targeted support, such as clear explanations and practical examples, can significantly enhance the risk classification process. The study provides actionable insights for tool designers and policymakers aiming to support AIA compliance in practice.
title Self-Service or Not? How to Guide Practitioners in Classifying AI Systems Under the EU AI Act
topic Computers and Society
Artificial Intelligence
Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.00065