How to avoid selling sex toys to children

Training AI start-ups - can the EU AI Act make your product better?

5 May 2026

StartupTRD brought us in to hold a workshop for start-ups and small businesses in Trondheim.

• How long until ignoring the EU AI Act will bite you?

• Is there a first-mover advantage?

Participants were skeptical of the second question. So we started with a high-profile failure from the US: a teddy bear sold to kids and with speech functions powered by ChatGPT, that was pulled from the market days after reports of chatting with kids about sex and weapons.

What would the EU AI Act have caught? And when?

Then we pivoted to participants' own AI products and services, and asked:

How could being the first to demonstrate compliance, win you customers?

One start-up put their new product on the table. As a group, we mapped their AI Act risk class, described user-friendly (and necessary) technical documentation, and sketched out their obligations together.

Are you developing an AI product or service, and want to make sure you are ready for EU AI Act requirements? Get in touch.