EU AI Act for AI Startups
SME discount + lean compliance ladder. Free → £79/mo → £4,950.
Pre-Series-C AI startup, mostly bootstrapped, EU customers in pipeline. EU AI Act feels like an existential threat. It's not — Article 99(6) gives SMEs a fine cap discount + most of your obligations are 4 hours of writing. We built this stack because we're you.
The 4-hour startup compliance MVP
- Run /scorecard (5 min). Tells you which articles bind. Save the signed cert as evidence.
- Write 2-page Article 4 literacy memo (1 hr). What AI you use, who uses it, what training they had. Log it.
- Article 5 prohibition self-check (30 min). Read /eu-ai-act/article-5, document why your AI doesn't fall in any of the 8 prohibited categories.
- Annex III scoping note (1 hr). Read /eu-ai-act/article-9 (or whichever applies). For most B2B SaaS: not Annex III. Document why.
- If you ship generative outputs: buy /article-50-kit (£99), integrate C2PA manifest + watermarker. Plan for 2 Aug 2026 deadline.
- If you're a foundation model provider: read /eu-ai-act/article-13 + GPAI articles 51-55. Publish model card + training-data summary + copyright policy.
- Total time: 4 hours. Total cost: £0 - £99.
Frequently asked
Do EU AI Act fines really kill startups?
Article 99(6) gives SMEs (incl. start-ups) a discount: the fine is the LOWER of (cap or % turnover) rather than the higher. Net effect for a startup with €1M turnover: max fine for prohibited practices (Art. 5) is €70K not €35M. For Article 50 / 26 / 16 violations: €30K not €15M. So no, the regulation isn't designed to kill startups — but Article 5 prohibitions (manipulation, exploitation, etc.) still apply fully. Best-case: ship compliant + use evidence as enterprise sales accelerator. Worst-case: ignore + get sanctioned + lose enterprise deals.
What's the cheapest viable compliance posture?
Free path: 90-sec scorecard at /scorecard → identifies which articles bind you. Article 4 literacy programme — write a 2-page training memo, log staff completion, done. Article 5 prohibition self-check — confirm no manipulation/social-scoring/etc. If non-Annex-III + non-GPAI: that's most of your obligations met. Total time: 4 hours. Cost: £0.
When does paid compliance kit actually pay back?
Three triggers: (1) you start landing EU enterprise deals (procurement RFPs ask for signed evidence) — buy the £4,950 audit-prep bundle once, reuse for every deal; (2) you ship generative AI outputs (need Article 50 watermarking by 2 Aug 2026) — £99 starter kit; (3) you fall in Annex III (HR tech, EdTech, fintech credit-scoring, etc.) — bias detection £299/mo + transparency logs £399/mo are operational requirements.
What about open-weight model providers?
Recital 102 of the EU AI Act reduces obligations for providers of open-weight foundation models — you publish weights, you have lighter Article 53 disclosure burden. Downstream deployers pick up most obligations. Practical: ship a model card with training-data summary, copyright policy, ban-list (Art. 5 things you didn't filter) — and you're mostly done as the open-weight provider.
What's the lowest-cost MEOK ladder?
(1) FREE: scorecard + fine-calculator + UK-CSR check + 31+ MIT MCPs on PyPI; (2) £79/mo Pro: enhanced rate limits + signed remote attestations + private MCPs; (3) £99 ONE-TIME: Article 50 watermark starter kit; (4) £299/mo: bias detection (only if Annex III); (5) £4,950 ONE-TIME: 14-day audit-prep bundle (only when you start landing enterprise deals). Most pre-Series-C startups can run on FREE + £79/mo for first year.
Founders → free 30-min office hours
I'm Nicholas Templeman, solo UK founder of MEOK AI Labs. Pre-Series-C AI founders get a free 30 min on EU AI Act scoping — no sales pitch, just answers.
MEOK AI Labs · CSOAI LTD · UK Companies House 16939677