The VICE Assessment for compliant AI Adoption

In Europe, a successful AI strategy isn’t just about the potential for innovation; it’s about balancing that potential with the reality of regulation. The EU AI Act, GDPR, and other compliance demands create a dual challenge: How do you move fast without breaking rules?

The V-I-C-E Prioritization Model, a core component of the AI Adoption Toolkit, is the practical tool you’ve been missing.

This simple assessment moves beyond basic “Impact vs. Effort.” It guides you to score your AI use case on the four factors that truly matter in the European context:

Start your assessment below. Enter your use case name and the four V-I-C-E scores (1-4).

Click “Calculate” and the tool will instantly plot your project on our strategic matrix and provide a clear, actionable recommendation. Find out if your project is a:

The V-I-C-E model for AI use case prioritization

** Want to know how to determine the V-I-C-E values? Read the guide below first for the best results.

AI use case:

Quick Wins

Major Investments

Maintenance/Pilots

Pitfalls

Scoring Guidelines for the V-I-C-E Model

Use the following descriptions to assign a score from 1 (low) to 4 (high) for each factor.

V: Value (Business Value)

This measures the potential commercial or strategic return of the project.

1 (Low): A minor optimization. A ‘nice-to-have’ with an unclear or very limited financial impact (e.g., slightly improving an internal-only routine).
2 (Limited): A clear efficiency gain or cost saving within a single department. It improves an existing process.
3 (High): Creates a new competitive advantage, opens a new (small) revenue stream, or significantly improves the customer experience.
4 (Very High): Transformative. This project is fundamental to a new strategic pillar, creates a major new revenue source, or is mission-critical for the business.

I: Impact (Socio-Ethical Risk)

This measures the potential negative risk to people, society, or your company’s reputation, specifically in the context of the EU AI Act.

1 (Low): No or negligible impact on people. The system only affects processes (e.g., server optimization, predictive maintenance on machinery). This falls under Minimal Risk (EU AI Act).
2 (Limited): Indirect impact on people. The system does not make decisions about them (e.g., a general chatbot, spam filter). This often falls under Specific Transparency Risk.
3 (High): Direct impact on a person’s career, finances, or well-being, but a human is required to make the final decision (e.g., a tool that recommends CVs to a recruiter).
4 (Critical): Direct, autonomous impact on critical life decisions (e.g., a tool that automatically rejects CVs, determines credit scores, or assists in legal judgments). This is a clear High-Risk system (EU AI Act).

C: Complexity (Technical Complexity)

This measures how difficult the AI model is to build and integrate, separate from its cost.

1 (Low): Very simple. We can use a standard, out-of-the-box API, and the data is perfectly clean and available.
2 (Limited): A standard project. We need to train a known model (e.g., a classifier) on our own, reasonably clean data. Requires standard data engineering.
3 (High): Very complex. Requires fine-tuning a large (GenAI) model, building complex data pipelines, or integrating into deep legacy systems.
4 (Very High): R&D level. We are not yet sure if it’s possible. Requires developing new AI techniques, advanced research, or building a foundational model.

E: Effort (Total Effort & Compliance)

This measures the total cost in time, money, and personnel to complete the project, including the cost of compliance.

1 (Low): Minimal effort. Can be done in one sprint (1-2 weeks) by 1-2 people. Requires almost no compliance documentation.
2 (Limited): Medium effort. Requires a small, dedicated team for 1-2 quarters. Standard project management and documentation are needed.
3 (High): High effort. Requires a large, multi-disciplinary team, a significant budget, and specific time allocated for compliance (e.g., setting up a Quality Management System and data governance for the EU AI Act).
4 (Very High): Very high effort. A year-long (or multi-year) project with a very large budget. Requires external audits, extensive legal reviews, and a dedicated compliance team.