Artificial Intelligence · Austria
AI regulation in Austria: the EU AI Act (2026)
Austria shaded by its artificial intelligence status
AI in Austria: comprehensive law.
FrameworkEU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689), directly applicable; supplemented nationally by the KI-Servicestelle at RTR (KommAustria-Gesetz §20c / TKG 2021 §194a), the Austrian Data Protection Authority (DSB), and the AIM AT 2030 national strategy
As an EU member state, Austria is governed by the EU AI Act, which entered into force on 1 August 2024 with staged application (prohibitions from 2 February 2025, GPAI obligations from 2 August 2025, high-risk system rules by 2026/2027). Nationally, Austria has established the KI-Servicestelle (AI Service Desk) and KI-Beirat (AI Advisory Board) at telecom regulator RTR as the information and coordination hub, while the Datenschutzbehörde has claimed market-surveillance competence for biometric AI used in law enforcement; a full national implementation act naming all AI Act competent authorities is still pending. Austria also pursues a strategic layer through the AIM AT 2030 strategy and the Digital Austria Act 2.0 (adopted 2025), which prioritise trustworthy AI and digital sovereignty in the public sector.
The EU AI Act in Austria
In Austria, artificial intelligence is governed by the EU AI Act, the first comprehensive AI law, which applies directly as an EU regulation.
- Framework
- the EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689)
- Approach
- risk-based: unacceptable-risk AI is banned, high-risk AI faces strict duties, limited-risk AI has transparency rules
- General-purpose AI
- transparency duties for all GPAI models; systemic-risk models add safety and evaluation obligations
- Timeline
- phased: prohibitions from Feb 2025, GPAI rules from Aug 2025, most high-risk obligations from Aug 2026
- Maximum fine
- €35 million or 7% of global annual turnover for prohibited-AI breaches
- Oversight
- national market-surveillance authorities, coordinated by the EU AI Office
The AI Act is an EU regulation applied directly in Austria; national market-surveillance authorities handle enforcement.
The EU AI Act in Austria: FAQ
Yes. As an EU member, Austria is covered by the EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689), which applies directly.
It uses a risk-based approach: unacceptable-risk AI is banned, high-risk AI faces strict obligations, and general-purpose AI models carry transparency duties.
It is phased: prohibitions applied from February 2025, general-purpose-AI rules from August 2025, and most high-risk obligations from August 2026.
Up to €35 million or 7% of global annual turnover for breaching the prohibited-AI rules, with lower tiers for other breaches.
Key points
Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 applies directly in Austria. Prohibited practices have applied since 2 February 2025 and general-purpose AI model obligations since 2 August 2025; high-risk AI system rules under Annex III apply from 2 August 2026, with the remaining high-risk regime by 2 August 2027.
The KI-Servicestelle (AI Service Desk) at the RTR is Austria's designated national contact point and competence centre for AI, legally anchored in KommAustria-Gesetz §20c and TKG 2021 §194a, and is being built up as the intended national AI authority for future market surveillance under the AI Act.
An eleven-member independent expert body established under the same 2023 statutory amendments and constituted on 28 February 2024, advising the federal government and RTR on technical, ethical and societal AI issues.
The Austrian Datenschutzbehörde (DSB) has asserted exclusive market-surveillance competence for high-risk AI systems used for biometric identification in law enforcement (Annex III point 1) and has published FAQs on AI/GDPR interaction, reflecting the GDPR baseline that continues to apply to AI systems.
The Artificial Intelligence Mission Austria 2030 (AIM AT 2030), published in 2021 and tracked by the OECD.AI observatory, sets Austria's human-centred, trustworthy-AI strategy with three goals: broad common-good deployment, positioning Austria as an AI innovation hub, and safeguarding competitiveness.
Adopted in late 2025, the Digital Austria Act 2.0 introduces a 'Sovereignty Compass' for public-sector IT and AI procurement, prioritising open-source and European alternatives, and sets a 1 July 2026 deadline for connecting federal registers to the Austrian Micro Data Center.
Timeline - major decisions & events
The KI-Servicestelle at telecom/broadcasting regulator RTR transitioned into one of the EU's first operational AI market-surveillance bodies, moving Austria from an advisory posture to active EU AI Act oversight.
RTR (KI-Servicestelle) ↗Obligations for general-purpose AI models began applying in Austria, and the EU deadline for member states to designate national competent authorities took effect, anchoring Austria's enforcement architecture around RTR.
RTR (KI-Servicestelle) ↗The EU's risk-based AI Regulation entered into force, becoming the binding framework that governs AI in Austria and triggering the staggered national application deadlines.
European Commission ↗Statutory amendments (BGBl. I Nr. 6/2024 amending the KommAustria-Gesetz §20c and TKG 2021 §194a) created the AI Service Desk and an 11-member AI Advisory Board within RTR as Austria's central AI competence and advisory hub.
RTR (KI-Servicestelle) ↗The Datenschutzbehörde found Clearview AI's scraping of facial images and biometric profiling breached GDPR Articles 5, 6, 9 and 27, ordering deletion of the complainant's data, an early Austrian limit on AI-driven biometric surveillance (though no fine was issued).
EDPB ↗The Federal Government adopted the Artificial Intelligence Mission Austria 2030 strategy, setting goals of common-good AI use, positioning Austria as an AI innovation hub, and securing competitiveness, the policy foundation later operationalized for the EU AI Act.
European Commission (Digital Skills & Jobs) ↗The Austrian Council on Robotics and AI (ACRAI) released 'Shaping the future of Austria with robotics and artificial intelligence,' offering policy recommendations on smart governance, innovation and regulation that fed into the national strategy.
ACRAI ↗The Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology set up an expert advisory council on robotics and AI, tasked with advising government and helping develop Austria's first national AI strategy, the institutional starting point of Austrian AI governance.
European Commission (AI Watch) ↗Austria - other topics
Artificial Intelligence in other countries
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