Is Gong Compliant with the EU AI Act?

Gong is fine for sales coaching — unless you use it for performance reviews

Gong has become the standard for revenue intelligence. It records sales calls, transcribes them, analyzes sentiment and talk patterns, and gives managers insight into what's working across their pipeline. For many sales teams, it's indispensable.

From an EU AI Act perspective, Gong sits in an interesting grey zone. Used purely for deal coaching and pipeline analytics, it's a limited-risk system with straightforward transparency obligations. But the moment you start using Gong's data to evaluate individual employee performance — to decide who gets promoted, who needs a PIP, or who gets let go — you've crossed into high-risk territory.

This distinction matters because many companies use Gong for both, often without realizing they've shifted categories.

What Gong does

Gong is a conversation intelligence platform. It records and transcribes sales calls (phone, video, web conferencing), then applies AI to extract insights:

• Call analytics — talk-to-listen ratio, longest monologue, question count, filler words
• Deal intelligence — engagement scoring, risk signals, pipeline forecasting
• Coaching insights — what top performers do differently, suggested talk tracks
• Sentiment analysis — how prospects react to pricing, competitors, specific features
• Performance dashboards — individual and team metrics over time

The AI layer runs across all of this: transcription, entity extraction, sentiment scoring, topic classification, and trend analysis. It's sophisticated, and it processes personal data (voice recordings of both employees and external parties) at scale.

How the EU AI Act classifies this

Gong's classification depends entirely on how you use it. This is a critical nuance of the AI Act — the same tool can be limited-risk in one context and high-risk in another.

Scenario 1: Sales coaching and deal analytics — LIMITED RISK

When Gong is used to analyze calls for deal intelligence, pipeline health, and general coaching, it falls under Article 50 — Transparency obligations. The key requirements:

• Art. 50(1): Persons interacting with the AI system must be informed they're doing so. In practice, this means everyone on a recorded call should know that AI is analyzing the conversation — not just that it's being recorded.
• Art. 50(2): Content generated or manipulated by AI (like call summaries) should be disclosed as AI-generated where appropriate.

This is manageable. Most Gong users already notify participants about recording. You just need to extend that disclosure to cover AI analysis.

Scenario 2: Employee performance evaluation — HIGH RISK

When Gong data feeds into decisions about individual employees — performance scores, promotion decisions, compensation, or termination — it triggers Annex III, Area 4(b):

AI systems intended to be used to make or materially influence decisions affecting the terms of work-related relationships, the promotion or termination of work-related contractual relationships, to allocate tasks based on individual behaviour, personal traits or characteristics, or to monitor and evaluate the performance and behaviour of persons in such relationships.

Read that carefully. "Monitor and evaluate the performance and behaviour" is exactly what Gong does when used as a performance management tool. If a sales manager uses Gong metrics to decide someone isn't performing, that's a high-risk use case.

The grey zone in practice:

Here's where it gets tricky. Many companies claim they use Gong "just for coaching" — but then a manager pulls up Gong stats in a performance review. Or Gong scores are referenced in a termination decision. Or leadership looks at Gong leaderboards to decide who to promote.

If AI-generated metrics materially influence employment decisions, the system is high-risk. Intent matters less than practice.

What obligations apply to you as a deployer

For limited-risk use (sales coaching):

Your obligations under Article 50 are relatively light:

1. Disclose AI to call participants. Everyone on a Gong-recorded call should be informed that AI will analyze the conversation. Update your recording consent language to be specific: "This call will be recorded and analyzed by AI for sales coaching and deal intelligence purposes."

2. Label AI-generated content. When sharing Gong summaries, insights, or recommendations externally, make clear these are AI-generated.

3. Comply with GDPR. The AI Act doesn't replace GDPR. Recording and AI-processing of voice data still requires a lawful basis, and the data subjects (including external call participants) have rights.

For high-risk use (performance evaluation):

If Gong data influences employment decisions, you inherit the full set of deployer obligations under Article 26:

1. Human oversight. Performance decisions based on Gong data must be reviewed by a qualified human. A manager can use Gong insights as one input — but cannot defer the decision to the AI metrics alone.

2. Transparency to employees. Workers must be informed, in clear terms, that AI systems are being used to monitor and evaluate their performance. This should be in employment contracts or workforce policies — not hidden in a tool's terms of service. Works councils or employee representatives must also be informed (Art. 26(7)).

3. Fundamental rights impact assessment. Required before deployment if you have 50+ employees or are a public body (Art. 27). Given the sensitivity of workplace monitoring, this is strongly recommended even below the threshold.

4. Data quality. The data feeding into evaluations must be relevant and sufficiently representative. Gong captures a slice of an employee's work — it doesn't see offline meetings, email correspondence, or strategic thinking. Using it as the primary performance metric is both bad management and a compliance risk.

5. Incident reporting and monitoring. You must monitor the system for discriminatory outcomes and report serious incidents.

Practical steps to comply

1. Draw a clear line between coaching and evaluation. Decide, as a matter of policy, whether Gong data can be used in formal performance reviews, promotion decisions, or disciplinary processes. Write it down. Communicate it to managers. If the answer is "yes," you need the full high-risk compliance framework.

2. Audit current usage. Check how managers actually use Gong today. Are Gong metrics showing up in performance reviews? Are they referenced in PIPs or termination documentation? If so, you're already in high-risk territory regardless of what your policy says.

3. Update call disclosures. Go beyond "this call is recorded." Add: "This call is recorded and analyzed using AI. The AI generates transcriptions, summaries, and analytics for sales coaching purposes." If you're in a two-party consent jurisdiction, this matters even more.

4. Brief your sales managers. Make sure they understand the distinction between using Gong for coaching (fine) and using it as evidence in employment decisions (high-risk). Provide clear guidelines on what they can and can't do with Gong data.

5. Review your GDPR position. Gong processes voice data, which is personal data. If you're processing employee voice data for AI analysis, your lawful basis is probably legitimate interest — but you need to document this properly and ensure your DPIA covers AI-specific risks.

6. Talk to Gong about compliance documentation. As a provider of an AI system that can be deployed in high-risk contexts, Gong should be able to provide information about the system's accuracy, limitations, and intended use. Ask for their EU AI Act readiness documentation.

The timeline

Transparency obligations (Art. 50) apply from August 2, 2025 — these are already in effect. High-risk system obligations apply from August 2, 2026. If you're using Gong in any way that touches performance evaluation, the clock is ticking.

The bottom line

Gong is a powerful tool and, for most sales teams, a limited-risk system under the AI Act. The compliance burden is light: disclose AI to call participants, label AI-generated content, and ensure your GDPR house is in order. But if Gong data is influencing employment decisions — even informally — you're in high-risk territory with significantly heavier obligations. The smartest move is to decide now which side of the line you're on, and build your processes accordingly.

Take our free AI Act scan to see how Gong and your other AI tools are classified → /ai-act-scan

See Gong's full risk classification → /ai-act-scan/tools/gong