EU AI Act — General-Purpose AI

The obligations that fall on providers of general-purpose AI models, and on deployers who build systems on top of them.

Who this is for

• GPAI providers preparing for Article 53
• Deployers building on foundation models
• Legal and procurement teams contracting with GPAI providers
• Compliance leads triaging vendor risk

What you will be able to do

• Explain the GPAI regime and how it interacts with the general risk framework
• Distinguish GPAI models from GPAI models with systemic risk
• Advise on transparency, documentation, and copyright obligations
• Assess a GPAI provider’s materials against the AI Code of Practice
• Negotiate GPAI supply agreements that make downstream compliance possible

Syllabus

Each module comprises a mix of structured reading, worked examples, and applied exercises. Every programme concludes with an integrated written assessment marked against the published rubric.

Module 1. What is GPAI

Definitions, thresholds, boundary cases with narrow-purpose systems. Interaction with foundation-model regulation elsewhere.

Module 2. GPAI obligations (Art. 53)

Technical documentation, information for downstream providers, copyright compliance, and the training-data summary.

Module 3. Systemic risk designation (Art. 51)

Compute-threshold triggers, notification, obligations that follow. The AI Office role.

Module 4. GPAI with systemic risk (Art. 55)

Model evaluation, adversarial testing, tracking and reporting of serious incidents, cybersecurity protection.

Module 5. The AI Code of Practice

What it says, what it means, and how compliance is likely to be assessed. Practical review of the current text.

Module 6. Downstream deployer perspective

What deployers can reasonably ask of GPAI providers. Contracting patterns. Compliance liftup.

Module 7. Copyright and training data

Text and data mining exceptions, opt-outs, the summary obligation. Interaction with national and EU copyright regimes.

Assessment

Sample question

A foundation-model provider offers its model under a licence that permits any downstream use. Your organisation wants to build a high-risk system on top. What contractual protections do you need, and what obligations remain irreducibly yours?

Assessments are marked by a named human examiner against the four-dimension rubric: regulatory accuracy (30%), applied judgement (30%), artefact quality (25%), communication (15%). Pass at 60, distinction at 75.

Prerequisites

EU AI Act Foundations, or equivalent

Certification

On successful completion (pass mark 60), you receive a SAAII Certified Practitioner (CP) — EU AI Act — General-Purpose AI credential. The credential is CPD-accredited, verifiable at thesaaii.com/verify, and forms one component toward higher-tier credentials. See the certification ladder for how it stacks.

Cohort licensing available from £395/seat (10+). Public sector, education, and registered charity: 20% discount. Instalment plans available for programmes at £495 and above. See For organisations and the FAQ for detail.