TL;DR: An AI readiness audit is an independent assessment that shows where AI will actually save your company money, what risks come with it (data, quality, compliance) and how to meet your EU AI Act obligations. It ends with a concrete report: priorities, cost and ROI estimates, and a rollout roadmap. At audytAI prices start from €700 (Lite) and €1,400 (Pro). {.lead}
Most companies approach AI the wrong way round: first they buy a tool, then they look for a problem it might solve. An AI readiness audit reverses that order — it maps processes and risks first, and the choice of tools is merely a consequence. This guide explains what such an audit covers, what it costs, and how to read its result.
What is an AI readiness audit?
An AI readiness audit is an independent analysis of a company around three questions: where AI actually pays off, what risks must be brought under control before rolling it out, and whether the company meets its legal obligations (above all the EU AI Act). The result is not a slide deck about trends — it is a decision document.
The key word is independent. An audit run by the vendor of a specific tool usually ends with a recommendation for that tool. An independent audit may just as well conclude “don’t roll out anything yet, fix your data first” — and that is a valuable result too.
What does an AI readiness audit cover?
A good audit has four layers, each answering a different question.
| Layer | The question it answers |
|---|---|
| Inventory of AI usage | Where is AI already used in the company — including “in the shadows”? |
| Map of processes to automate | Which processes to automate first by benefit-to-cost? |
| EU AI Act compliance (Art. 50) | Do we meet the transparency obligations from 2 August 2026? |
| Report with numbers and a plan | What does it cost, what does it return, in what order? |
The first layer almost always uncovers Shadow AI — staff using public AI tools without management knowing, the most common source of data-leak risk. The compliance layer checks the transparency duties under Article 50, covered in detail in EU AI Act compliance for companies.
What does the report look like?
A single recommendation looks like this (figures are illustrative; in a real report they come from your processes):
Recommendation 03/11 — high priority: automating the cost-invoice workflow Current state: manually re-keying ~120 invoices/month, ~10 h of work. Recommendation: reading invoice data (OCR + AI) and writing to the system with a human check. Estimated cost: rollout €1,000–1,800 + low monthly cost. Estimated return: ~8 h/month recovered, fewer errors.
The full report is a dozen or so such items ordered from most to least urgent, plus a section on EU AI Act compliance and data quality.
How much does it cost?
At audytAI we use two transparent packages:
- Audit Lite — from €700: a quick review for a small company.
- Audit Pro — from €1,400: a full readiness assessment and rollout roadmap.
The final quote depends on the number of processes and people. See full pricing.
Audit vs rollout — what’s the difference?
These two are easy to confuse. An audit answers what to do, in what order, and whether you’re compliant — before you spend money. A rollout is the actual delivery of selected recommendations (launching a chatbot, automating a document workflow). The audit is cheaper, faster and non-binding; it guards against the most expensive mistake of all — buying a tool your company can’t put to work. You can stop at the audit: a clear list of priorities is often enough for a team to move on its own.
How to choose an AI audit provider
The AI-audit market is young and uneven — from rigorous analysis to a sales pitch wearing a new label. What to look for:
- Independence. Does the auditor make money by recommending a specific tool? If so, the “audit” is really a sale. Look for someone who can honestly say “don’t roll out anything yet.”
- Specifics over trends. Ask for a sample of the report. If it’s slides about an “AI revolution” rather than concrete, numbered recommendations, that’s a red flag.
- EU AI Act fluency. An audit that ignores the AI Act is incomplete. The auditor should be able to tell whether you handle high-risk systems or “only” Article 50 transparency.
- A data-first mindset. Does the auditor ask what data goes into your AI tools? That’s the litmus test of a serious approach.
- Clear price and scope. A price range and a list of deliverables should be known before you start.
Lite or Pro — which package?
| Audit Lite (from €700) | Audit Pro (from €1,400) | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | a small company, 1–2 decision-makers | a company with several teams/processes |
| Interview | 1–2 people | the full team |
| Process map | 3–5 processes | all processes + risks and data |
| AI Act | short status (Art. 50) | full compliance assessment |
In practice, Lite makes sense when you want to quickly check whether there’s anything worth automating, and Pro when you’re planning a real rollout and need the full map plus a compliance assessment. Not sure? Start with the free intro call and we’ll help you scope it.
What happens after the audit?
The audit is a map, not the journey. Afterwards you can implement the recommendations yourself, hand them to any vendor, or have us deliver them (RAG chatbots, automations and maintenance are handled by the managerAI team). The audit is independent — none of these paths is forced.
The simplest first step is a free intro call (~30 min). Book an audit or start with the free AI Act checklist.
This material is informational and does not constitute legal advice. The law may change — for doubts about a specific situation, consult a lawyer.