Glossary · AI Act
Annex III (AI Act)
The AI Act's list of use-case areas in which AI systems are classified as high-risk.
Explained in depth: AI Act overview
Annex III enumerates eight areas of high-risk use: biometrics (including remote biometric identification and biometric categorisation); critical infrastructure; education and vocational training; employment, workers management, and access to self-employment; access to essential private and public services (including creditworthiness and insurance pricing); law enforcement; migration, asylum, and border control; and administration of justice and democratic processes. Classification is use-case based, not technology based: the same underlying model can be high-risk in one deployment and minimal-risk in another. A derogation in Article 6(3) lets providers document that a system in an Annex III area does not pose significant risk (for example, it performs a narrow procedural task), subject to conditions; profiling of natural persons is always high-risk. The Commission can amend the annex over time.
Why it matters
Annex III is the checklist every AI inventory gets screened against. The employment and essential-services entries in particular pull common tools, CV screening, workforce scheduling, and credit scoring, into the high-risk regime.