The European Union’s new AI Act, which sets out comprehensive and far-reaching rules for the use of artificial intelligence, came into force on 1 August 2024. One aspect of the new Act that has been highly controversial from the outset and remains so today is the central definition of ‘AI system’.

In order to clarify this issue, Christiane Wendehorst and Bernhard Nessler developed the 'three-factor approach' to help define the term more precisely. Christiane Wendehorst presented this approach at an expert conference on the AI Act organised by Saarland University on 10 and 11 September 2024.

A detailed discussion of the 'three-factor approach' and the defining characteristics of an AI system according to the AI Act can be found in an article by Christiane Wendehorst, Bernhard Nessler and others. This was published in issue 7 of MMR 2024 and is available here.