AI system
In plain wordsA 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.
A complete, operational configuration of software (and sometimes hardware) whose behavior depends on one or more AI modelsAI model, n.: The trained core of an AI: a large file of learned numbers plus the recipe for using them, which turns an input such as a question or a photo into an output. plus the components that make them usable: interfaces, promptssystem prompt, n.: Background instructions given to a chatbot before the conversation starts, setting its role, rules, tone and tools. Users usually never see it, but it shapes every reply., retrieval, toolstool, n.: Any outside capability an AI model is allowed to use — a web search, a calculator, a code runner, a database or an app — described to the model so it can ask for it by name., safety filters and monitoring. Engineers separate system from model because performance and risk arise at the system level: the same model can be safe in one product and harmful in another. In law the term sets the scope of regulation. 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. (Art. 3(1)) the decisive feature is that a machine-based system, pursuing explicit or implicit objectives, 'infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs', whether predictions, content, recommendations or decisions, that can affect physical or virtual environments; such systems may run with differing degrees of autonomyautonomy, n.: How much an AI system can act on its own without a person approving each step, from merely making suggestions to carrying out long tasks with no supervision at all. and may keep adapting after deployment. The wording follows the OECD's revised definition of November 2023. Recital 12 calls this capability to infer, which goes beyond basic data processing, the key characteristic; the European Commission issued guidelines on applying the definition in February 2025.
The model passed our tests, but the AI system as a whole, with retrieval and filters, still needs a risk assessment.
Origin
Long used informally for any AI-based program. It became a legal term of art through the OECD Recommendation on Artificial Intelligence (May 2019; definition revised November 2023) and the EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689), whose Article 3(1) aligned with the OECD's revised text; the US National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 likewise defines AI itself as a machine-based system.
Usage note
Contrast AI modelAI model, n.: The trained core of an AI: a large file of learned numbers plus the recipe for using them, which turns an input such as a question or a photo into an output.: under the EU AI Act a bare model is not yet a system; it becomes part of one only once other elements, a user interface for instance, are added (Recital 97). Definitions differ across jurisdictions, so whether a product counts as an AI system, and is therefore regulated, can be contested.
Related
- AI modelAI model, n.: The trained core of an AI: a large file of learned numbers plus the recipe for using them, which turns an input such as a question or a photo into an output.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- autonomyautonomy, n.: How much an AI system can act on its own without a person approving each step, from merely making suggestions to carrying out long tasks with no supervision at all.
- AI applicationAI application, n.: A program or product that uses AI to do something useful for people, such as a translation app, a medical-scan checker or a coding assistant.
- ISO/IEC 22989ISO/IEC 22989, prop. n.: An international standard that fixes agreed meanings for basic AI words — such as AI system, machine learning and trustworthiness — so that other standards, contracts and laws can use the same vocabulary.
- AI modelAI model, n.: The trained core of an AI: a large file of learned numbers plus the recipe for using them, which turns an input such as a question or a photo into an output.
Sources
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (Artificial Intelligence Act), Article 3, Definitions. artificialintelligenceact.eu/article/3
- European Commission (2025). Guidelines on the definition of an artificial intelligence system established by Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act). 6 February 2025. digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/commission-publishes-guidelines-ai-system-definition-facilitate-first-ai-acts-rules-application
- Russell, S., Perset, K. & Grobelnik, M. (2023). Updates to the OECD's definition of an AI system explained. OECD.AI Policy Observatory, 29 November 2023. oecd.ai/en/wonk/ai-system-definition-update
Defined in law or standards
EU AI Act (Reg. (EU) 2024/1689), Art. 3(1) and Recital 12; OECD Recommendation on AI (definition revised November 2023); US Executive Order 14110 (2023; revoked January 2025), §3(e)
Mentioned in
AI regulationAI regulation, n.: Laws and binding government rules about artificial intelligence: what AI may be used for, what checks its makers must run, and what penalties apply when they break the rules., artificial intelligenceartificial intelligence, n.: Computer systems that do things we would normally credit to a thinking mind, such as holding a conversation, reading an X-ray or planning a route, and the field of research that builds them., 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., 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., modelmodel, n.: A simplified working version of something. In AI it usually means the trained program, a big set of learned numbers, that takes an input and produces an answer, prediction or piece of content., AI applicationAI application, n.: A program or product that uses AI to do something useful for people, such as a translation app, a medical-scan checker or a coding assistant., AI modelAI model, n.: The trained core of an AI: a large file of learned numbers plus the recipe for using them, which turns an input such as a question or a photo into an output., AI regulatory sandboxAI regulatory sandbox, n.: A supervised testing ground where companies can try out new AI with regulators watching and advising, before the product faces the full weight of the rules., algorithmalgorithm, n.: A precise, step-by-step procedure for solving a problem or doing a task, like a recipe a computer can follow. In the news, 'the algorithm' often means software that ranks what you see online., autonomyautonomy, n.: How much an AI system can act on its own without a person approving each step, from merely making suggestions to carrying out long tasks with no supervision at all., Framework Convention on Artificial IntelligenceFramework Convention on Artificial Intelligence, prop. n.: The first binding international treaty on AI, drawn up by the Council of Europe, in which countries promise that AI used by governments and businesses will respect human rights, democracy and the rule of law., inferenceinference, n.: Drawing a conclusion from evidence. In today's AI it most often means running an already-trained model to get an answer, as opposed to training it., NIST AI Risk Management FrameworkNIST AI Risk Management Framework, prop. n.: A free, voluntary guide from the US government's standards agency that helps organizations spot, measure and reduce the risks of the AI systems they build or use., OECD AI PrinciplesOECD AI Principles, prop. n.: Guidelines for trustworthy AI that governments agreed through the OECD in 2019, the first such standard agreed between governments; many later laws and agreements borrowed from them., 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., risk-based approachrisk-based approach, n.: A way of regulating AI in which the strictness of the rules depends on how much harm a use could cause: bans for the worst uses, heavy checks for risky ones, little or nothing for the rest., compound AI systemcompound AI system, n.: An AI product built from several working parts — models, search tools, code and checks — designed to work together, rather than a single model answering on its own., intended purposeintended purpose, n.: The 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., ISO/IEC 22989ISO/IEC 22989, prop. n.: An international standard that fixes agreed meanings for basic AI words — such as AI system, machine learning and trustworthiness — so that other standards, contracts and laws can use the same vocabulary., Product Liability DirectiveProduct Liability Directive, prop. n.: The EU law that lets people claim compensation, without proving anyone was careless, when a defective product injures them — rewritten in 2024 so that software and AI count as products., 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.