Empowering manufacturing SMEs to independently and securely navigate the AI Act and other AI regulations

When using AI systems to increase competitiveness and compensate for the shortage of skilled workers, every manufacturing SME is faced with the challenge of ensuring the safe and ethical use of artificial intelligence. To support this, various regulations and recommendations are available, for example from UNESCO, the OECD, or ISO/IEC 42001:2023. In May 2024, the EU also passed the so-called "AI Act." All AI systems used are to be classified into one of four risk classes, which determine the requirements for providers and operators. These range from transparency obligations to bans.

Depending on the initial situation and existing AI expertise of an SME, the implementation of all recommendations and guidelines, as well as the creation of its own corporate guidelines, involves a high level of resource expenditure and legal risks. The "AI Act-Ready" research project aims to investigate how manufacturing SMEs can be empowered to deal with the AI Act and other AI regulations and recommendations safely and independently, to implement the requirements with minimal effort and legal certainty, and to create their own internal AI guidelines. This should reduce the risk of violations, fines, and consequences of improper use (e.g., damage to reputation or the formation of so-called shadow AI) for manufacturing SMEs.