EU AI Act Prohibited AI Practices
EU AI Act prohibited AI practices are AI use cases banned outright under Article 5 of the Regulation, including manipulative or exploitative AI, social scoring by public authorities, and untargeted biometric database scraping.
What AI Practices Are Prohibited
Article 5 of the EU AI Act lists prohibited practices, including.
- Manipulative or exploitative AI: Systems using subliminal techniques, or exploiting vulnerabilities of specific groups, that cause or are likely to cause significant harm.
- Social scoring: AI used by or on behalf of public authorities to score or classify individuals based on social behavior or personal characteristics, leading to detrimental treatment.
- Untargeted biometric scraping: Creating or expanding facial recognition databases through untargeted scraping of facial images from the internet or CCTV.
The full list also covers real-time remote biometric identification in publicly accessible spaces (with narrow law enforcement exceptions), emotion recognition in workplaces and education, and certain forms of predictive policing.
When AI Prohibitions Apply
Prohibited practices provisions have applied since February 2, 2025. Unlike other EU AI Act obligations that phase in, prohibitions took effect early because they represent uses considered incompatible with EU fundamental rights.
Why AI Prohibitions Matter for Enterprise Governance
Enterprise AI governance programs need to identify whether any planned or existing AI use case falls within prohibited practices. The consequences of deployment are not incremental compliance findings, they are outright violations. Prohibited-practice review should sit at the front of any AI intake process.
Related Terms
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