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1. Fast Lane

Purpose

Accelerated track for low-risk AI applications to safely and quickly test value with minimal governance overhead.

When to use this?

You have a low-risk AI use case and want to know whether you can skip the full lifecycle via the accelerated Fast Lane track.

1. Objective

The Fast Lane is designed to safely and quickly test value for low-risk AI applications, without unnecessary bureaucracy — but with minimal governance.

2. Admission Criteria (all mandatory)

A use case may only use the Fast Lane if all of the following conditions are met:

  1. EU AI Act risk level = Minimal (see Compliance Hub)
  2. Collaboration mode = 1 or 2 (Instrumental or Advisory; see AI Collaboration Modes)
  3. The AI makes no decisions about people (no selection/allocation/rejection)
  4. No processing of special categories of personal data (health, religion, biometrics, etc.)
  5. Output is always reviewed by a human before use (no autonomous sending/execution)
  6. Internal use only, or (if external) 100% transparency ("You are interacting with AI")

If one criterion is not met: → no Fast Lane — follow the standard lifecycle (Discovery & Strategy through Monitoring & Optimisation).

Hard exclusions

The Fast Lane is not permitted for the following categories:

  1. External customer-facing chatbots or public content generation without demonstrable Art. 50 disclosure/labelling implementation.
  2. Tool-using agents with write-access to business systems (e.g. ERP, CRM, HRM) — even in "pilot" form.
  3. Systems with autonomous decisions affecting individuals (screening, scoring, allocation).

Evidence for Art. 50 implementation (if applicable)

  • Screenshot or UX copy of disclosure/labelling in the user interface
  • Test cases in the Golden Set that validate disclosure/labelling behaviour
  • Reference in the Validation Report with links to evidence

3. Minimum deliverable package (Fast Lane)

What you may skip in Fast Lane:

  • Extensive business case (ROI) may come later, but note a "value hypothesis" in the Charter.
  • Extensive technical dossier (only relevant at high risk).

4. Fast Lane Gates (simple and verifiable)

Gate FL-1 — Start experiment (max. 2 weeks)

Go if:

  • Risk Pre-Scan = Minimal
  • Goal Definition contains Hard Boundaries
  • Minimum test plan is ready (Golden Set ≥ 20)

Gate FL-2 — Internal live pilot (max. 4 weeks)

Go if:

5. When Fast Lane stops (escalation)

The Fast Lane stops immediately and we switch to the standard lifecycle if:

  • Collaboration mode shifts to 3+
  • The tool will be used externally with impact on customers
  • Data usage expands to (special categories of) personal data
  • 1 Critical error occurs (Hard Boundaries breached)

Next step: If you qualify for the Fast Lane, start directly with Phase 2 — Validation → See also: Explorer Kit