AI Vocabulary · 08 Rules & Responsibility

What is General-Purpose AI Model (GPAI)?

The EU AI Act's term for broadly capable models, like large language models, that can be used for many different tasks.

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Under the EU AI Act, a general-purpose AI model is a model that can competently perform a wide range of distinct tasks and can be built into many different applications. Most large language models and foundation models fall into this category.

The Act places specific duties on the providers of these models, meaning the companies that develop them and put them on the market, not on everyday users. Since August 2025 they must, among other things, keep technical documentation, give information to companies that build on their models, have a policy to comply with EU copyright law and publish a summary of their training content. The most capable models, classed as posing "systemic risk", face additional duties such as risk assessment, incident reporting and cybersecurity. A voluntary Code of Practice helps providers show compliance.

Why it matters for you

If you only use these models, the GPAI rules mostly work in your favour: they oblige your providers to give you documentation and information. If you modify or substantially fine-tune a model and offer it to others, check whether you could become a provider yourself.

Own it

Ask your model providers for their EU AI Act documentation and copyright policy, and keep it with your vendor records. It helps you meet your own duties as a deployer. This entry is an overview, not legal advice.

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