Artificial intelligence has rapidly become one of the most significant technological innovations affecting the European Union’s internal market, prompting the adoption of an unprecedented regulatory framework through Regulation (eu) 2024/1689 (Artificial Intelligence Act). While existing scholarship has primarily examined the aiAct from the perspectives of digital regulation, ethics and fundamental rights, this article argues that its legal architecture can only be fully understood within the broader framework governing the regulation of technological innovation through internal market harmonisation. Accordingly, the ai Act is analysed not as an isolated legislative instrument, but as the latest expression of the Union’s long-established use of Article 114 tfeu as the legal basis for the approximation of national legislation in sectors characterised by rapid technological development and significant cross-border implications.
Against this background, particular attention is devoted to the inclusion of ai systems used in education and vocational training among the high-risk ai systems listed in Annex iii of the ai Act. This legislative choice is interpreted in light of the broader regulatory rationale of the Regulation, which imposes harmonised obligations whenever ai-assisted decisions are capable of substantially affecting individuals’ access to legally and economically significant opportunities. The educational sector thus provides a particularly significant case study through which to examine the legal logic underpinning the Union’s risk-based approach, without implying the existence of a specific Union competence in the field of education.
The interaction between the ai Act, Regulation (eu) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation) and the recent case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, particularly schufa Holding (Scoring) and Dun & Bradstreet Austria, further illustrates the progressive development of a coherent Union legal framework governing algorithmically assisted decision-making. Considered together, these instruments demonstrate how the Union addresses the legal challenges raised by artificial intelligence by adapting established techniques of internal market harmonisation to emerging technologies, while remaining firmly rooted in the competences conferred upon it by the Member States through the Treaties.