Policy review proposes governance criteria for artificial intelligence in water systems, highlighting the necessity of precautionary high-impact classification.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming central to water governance by improving monitoring, prediction and treatment efficiency. Yet failures can directly threaten public health, making regulatory classification essential. The European Union and the Republic of Korea – the only jurisdictions with comprehensive AI legislation – classify water-sector AI as high-risk or high-impact but provide little guidance on which systems qualify. This paper argues that classification should be based on five criteria: functional importance, reliability, risk of harm, data quality and autonomy. Given the potentially severe consequences of failure, water-sector AI should be treated as high-impact until proven otherwise.
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Kim et al. (2026) studied this question.
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