Article 5 — Prohibited AI practices
AI Act, Regulation (EU) 2024/1689
What does AI Act Article 5 say?
Short answer, straight from the official text
1. The following AI practices shall be prohibited: (a) the placing on the market, the putting into service or the use of an AI system that deploys subliminal techniques beyond a person’s consciousness or purposefully manipulative or deceptive techniques, with the objective, or the effect of materially distorting the behaviour …
Source: AI Act, Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, read 2026-08-14.
| In the act | EU 2024/1689 |
| Chapter | II · Prohibited AI practices |
| CELEX | 32024R1689 |
| Read on | 2026-08-14 |
Official text
Read from the EU Publications Office for this CELEX number. The wording stands as published; nothing here is rewritten or summarised.
Jump to a point: Point 1 · Point 2 · Point 3 · Point 4
1. The following AI practices shall be prohibited:
(a) the placing on the market, the putting into service or the use of an AI system that deploys subliminal techniques beyond a person’s consciousness or purposefully manipulative or deceptive techniques, with the objective, or the effect of materially distorting the behaviour of a person or a group of persons by appreciably impairing their ability to make an informed decision, thereby causing them to take a decision that they would not have otherwise taken in a manner that causes or is reasonably likely to cause that person, another person or group of persons significant harm;
(b) the placing on the market, the putting into service or the use of an AI system that exploits any of the vulnerabilities of a natural person or a specific group of persons due to their age, disability or a specific social or economic situation, with the objective, or the effect, of materially distorting the behaviour of that person or a person belonging to that group in a manner that causes or is reasonably likely to cause that person or another person significant harm;
(c) the placing on the market, the putting into service or the use of AI systems for the evaluation or classification of natural persons or groups of persons over a certain period of time based on their social behaviour or known, inferred or predicted personal or personality characteristics, with the social score leading to either or both of the following:
The article continues in the official text.
Decision guide
Who is affected?
- Anyone placing on the market, putting into service or using an AI system for one of the listed practices: providers and deployers alike. (Art. 5(1))
Questions and answers
Is emotion recognition banned? In the workplace and in education institutions, yes, except for medical or safety reasons. Elsewhere it is not prohibited by Article 5. (Art. 5(1)(f))
May we scrape faces from the internet for a database? No. Untargeted scraping of facial images from the internet or CCTV to build or expand facial recognition databases is prohibited. (Art. 5(1)(e))
What counts as prohibited social scoring? Evaluating or classifying people over time based on social behaviour or personal traits, leading to detrimental treatment in unrelated contexts or treatment that is unjustified or disproportionate. (Art. 5(1)(c))
Duties
| Who | What | From |
|---|---|---|
| Provider and deployer | Do not place on the market, put into service or use AI for the listed practices. (Art. 5(1)) | 2 February 2025 |
| Provider and deployer | Do not offer or use AI to generate non-consensual intimate or sexually explicit images, video or audio of an identifiable person, or child sexual abuse material. (Art. 5(1)(ba)–(bb), 5(1a)) | 2 December 2026 |
Risk
The highest fine level in the AI Act: up to EUR 35 million or 7 % of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher. (Art. 99(3))
Most common mistake
Believing that all emotion recognition is banned. The prohibition covers workplaces and education, with exceptions for medical and safety reasons. (Art. 5(1)(f))
Most common sanction
No published supervisory decision under this article yet. Fines under the AI Act can be imposed from 2 August 2025 (Art. 113).
Actions
- Does this apply to us: check every AI use against the ten practices in Article 5(1), including points (ba) and (bb) added in 2026.
- What must we do: stop or redesign any use that matches; record the review.
- What does a mistake cost: up to EUR 35 million or 7 % of turnover.
Checked against the official text: 2026-10-12
The text is quoted from the official source and is not legal advice. A national court reads the language version that binds in its jurisdiction.
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