AI Governance Engineer
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Purpose limitation

By Updated

The GDPR principle that personal data collected for a specified purpose may not be further processed in an incompatible way; Article 6(4) sets the compatibility test 1. Enforced in AI pipelines by purpose tags on datasets and a policy that denies runs whose declared purpose does not match.

Developed in
ch. 19, Purpose limitation and function creep
Chapters
ch. 19, Privacy & AI
Source
1 numbered reference, listed below

Where it is used

3 chapters of the Body of Knowledge use the term. Each link opens the first section that does.

Purpose limitation: mentions per chapter5 mentions of the term across 3 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapterOther chapter12 Governance Program: 2 mentions12 Governance Program214 Development: 1 mention14 Development119 Privacy & AI: 2 mentions19 Privacy & AI2No mentions in the other 20 chaptersSource: the Body of Knowledgev0.5.0
Purpose limitation: mentions per chapter5 mentions of the term across 3 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapterOther chapter000102030405060708101112 Governance Program: 2 mentions2121314 Development: 1 mention1141516171819 Privacy & AI: 2 mentions21920212223Source: the Body of Knowledge v0.5.0
Mentions per chapter How often each chapter names the term, with the chapters the glossary cross-references drawn solid. The longest bar is where to read the term in use; bars spread across many chapters mark a term that runs through the discipline.
Mentions as a table
Mentions of Purpose limitation per chapter
ChapterMentionsCross-referenced
00 Preface0No
01 Definition0No
02 Why Now0No
03 Values & Principles0No
04 The Stack0No
05 Patterns0No
06 The Role0No
07 Maturity Model0No
08 Regulatory Map0No
10 Reading List0No
11 AI Defined0No
12 Governance Program2No
13 Risk Management0No
14 Development1No
15 Deployment0No
16 Fairness & XAI0No
17 Incidents0No
18 EU AI Act0No
19 Privacy & AI2Yes
20 Existing Law0No
21 AI Laws Worldwide0No
22 Principles & Standards0No
23 AI Agents0No

Patterns that use this term

One pattern page uses the term.

  • Function creep

    The gradual reuse of personal data or an AI system for purposes nobody approved, usually by configuration rather than a new release.

Sources

  1. [1] Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation) (Arts. 4(1), 4(5), 4(7), 4(8), 4(12), 4(14), 5, 6, 9, 12(3), 22, 25, 28(2) and 28(4), 30, 33, 35; Recital 26). Publications Office of the EU (EUR-Lex). 2016-04-27. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/679/oj/eng (verified: primary)

Definitions of legal terms paraphrase the cited text, which governs. Dated statements are as of .

Cite this term

García Aibar, J. (2026). Purpose limitation. In AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis & Body of Knowledge (v0.5.0), Glossary. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197. https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/purpose-limitation. CC BY 4.0

BibTeX

@misc{aige2026purposelimitation,
  author  = {Jorge García Aibar},
  title   = {{Purpose limitation}},
  note    = {Glossary, AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis \& Body of Knowledge, version 0.5.0},
  year    = {2026},
  doi     = {10.5281/zenodo.22956197},
  url     = {https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/purpose-limitation}
}