Explainability, Standardisation, and the AI Act

This paper evaluates the operationalisation of explainability requirements under the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act, Regulation (EU) 2024/1689). The study evaluates, under a legal informatics perspective, the consistency of current standardisation initiatives with the Act’s definitions, general objectives, and resilience to technological innovation. The research identifies critical structural gaps in explainability along the value chain by noting that linear information transfers from providers to deployers often fail to provide meaningful understanding for affected individuals. Furthermore, the paper highlights a significant challenge posed by emerging “agentic AI” systems, which challenge current standards that focus on static input-output mappings rather than autonomous, sequential decision-making. The analysis suggests that a static view of standardisation under the New Legislative Framework (NLF) risks technical obsolescence and may undermine the protection of fundamental rights. To ensure long-term regulatory effectiveness, the study advocates for modular, layered explainability architectures that can adapt to the evolving needs of diverse stakeholders across the system lifecycle.