---
authoritative: false
representation: annotated-page
publisher: AstroKube
methodology: https://ai-act.astrokube.com/about/
source_verified_on: '2026-09-15'
site_content_updated_on: '2026-09-15'
title: Recital 18 | EU AI Act | AstroKube
description: 'Recital 18, EU AI Act: The notion of ‘emotion recognition system’ referred to in this Regulation should be defined as an AI system for the purpose of…'
language: en
source: https://ai-act.astrokube.com/law/recital-18/
---

1.  [Start](https://ai-act.astrokube.com/)
2.  [The law](https://ai-act.astrokube.com/law/)
3.  Recital 18

# Recital 18

This is a recital of the 2024 act: interpretive context for the operative articles, not operative law itself.

▼ Primary text, verbatim. Our annotations appear below, visibly separated.

The notion of ‘emotion recognition system’ referred to in this Regulation should be defined as an AI system for the purpose of identifying or inferring emotions or intentions of natural persons on the basis of their biometric data. The notion refers to emotions or intentions such as happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, disgust, embarrassment, excitement, shame, contempt, satisfaction and amusement. It does not include physical states, such as pain or fatigue, including, for example, systems used in detecting the state of fatigue of professional pilots or drivers for the purpose of preventing accidents. This does also not include the mere detection of readily apparent expressions, gestures or movements, unless they are used for identifying or inferring emotions. Those expressions can be basic facial expressions, such as a frown or a smile, or gestures such as the movement of hands, arms or head, or characteristics of a person’s voice, such as a raised voice or whispering.

This text is meant purely as a documentation tool and has no legal effect. The Union's institutions do not assume any liability for its contents. The authentic versions of the relevant acts, including their preambles, are those published in the Official Journal of the European Union and available in EUR-Lex.

## If you would rather not read the law

The basics page explains the Regulation's own categories in order: scope, role, tier, date. The engineering view groups the obligations by the platform capability they demand.

[Start with the basics →](https://ai-act.astrokube.com/basics/) [Open the engineering view →](https://ai-act.astrokube.com/engineering/)

## About this provision

### Type

Recital

### Amended by

Not amended

### Cited capture

regulation-2024-1689/en-2026-08-18.html sha256 8f0b656302f9864c…

[Authentic text (EUR-Lex) →](http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj) [This version (EUR-Lex) →](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32024R1689)

### Machine readable

[/law/recital-18.md](https://ai-act.astrokube.com/law/recital-18.md) [/api/law.json](https://ai-act.astrokube.com/api/law.json)

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