diff --git a/ee/app/assets/javascripts/ai/catalog/components/ai_catalog_item_consumer_modal.vue b/ee/app/assets/javascripts/ai/catalog/components/ai_catalog_item_consumer_modal.vue
index bab678ccff11259ebd802072ee780ae4b4f9e1a2..22c1d43f68acf1bbe90562e6ef8d5a25201d73c7 100644
--- a/ee/app/assets/javascripts/ai/catalog/components/ai_catalog_item_consumer_modal.vue
+++ b/ee/app/assets/javascripts/ai/catalog/components/ai_catalog_item_consumer_modal.vue
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ export default {
   data() {
     return {
       isOpen: true,
-      targetId: this.item.project?.id || null,
+      targetId: null,
       error: null,
     };
   },
@@ -47,6 +47,9 @@ export default {
         itemType: this.itemTypeLabel,
       });
     },
+    isProjectValid() {
+      return Boolean(this.targetId);
+    },
     isPrivateItem() {
       return !this.item.public;
     },
@@ -132,8 +135,15 @@ export default {
         :label="s__('AICatalog|Project')"
         :label-description="projectLabelDescription"
         label-for="target-id"
+        :state="isProjectValid"
+        :invalid-feedback="__('Project is required.')"
       >
-        <form-project-dropdown id="target-id" v-model="targetId" @error="onError" />
+        <form-project-dropdown
+          id="target-id"
+          v-model="targetId"
+          :is-valid="isProjectValid"
+          @error="onError"
+        />
       </gl-form-group>
 
       <dl v-else>
diff --git a/ee/app/assets/javascripts/ai/catalog/components/form_project_dropdown.vue b/ee/app/assets/javascripts/ai/catalog/components/form_project_dropdown.vue
index 3a4bdb7836bbe955510c18e9b4d949c4cf8a137d..2db47205e187d7b69850656b5637b594db9996ee 100644
--- a/ee/app/assets/javascripts/ai/catalog/components/form_project_dropdown.vue
+++ b/ee/app/assets/javascripts/ai/catalog/components/form_project_dropdown.vue
@@ -23,6 +23,11 @@ export default {
       required: false,
       default: null,
     },
+    isValid: {
+      type: Boolean,
+      required: false,
+      default: true,
+    },
     value: {
       type: String,
       required: false,
@@ -147,6 +152,7 @@ export default {
     :items="projectList"
     :toggle-id="id"
     :toggle-text="projectDropdownText"
+    :toggle-class="{ 'gl-shadow-inner-1-red-500': !isValid }"
     :header-text="__('Select a project')"
     :loading="isLoadingInitial"
     searchable
diff --git a/ee/spec/frontend/ai/catalog/components/ai_catalog_item_consumer_modal_spec.js b/ee/spec/frontend/ai/catalog/components/ai_catalog_item_consumer_modal_spec.js
index f84116cf34578772240c46ba6d527a988b69a18f..a7fa9f6f3b0b898de89621d8136d2bee0a9f4c50 100644
--- a/ee/spec/frontend/ai/catalog/components/ai_catalog_item_consumer_modal_spec.js
+++ b/ee/spec/frontend/ai/catalog/components/ai_catalog_item_consumer_modal_spec.js
@@ -64,8 +64,8 @@ describe('AiCatalogItemConsumerModal', () => {
         expect(findProjectDropdown().exists()).toBe(true);
       });
 
-      it('renders project dropdown with preselected project', () => {
-        expect(findProjectDropdown().props('value')).toBe(agent.project.id);
+      it('renders project dropdown with no preselected project', () => {
+        expect(findProjectDropdown().props('value')).toBe(null);
       });
 
       it('renders alert when there was a problem fetching the projects', async () => {
@@ -82,6 +82,44 @@ describe('AiCatalogItemConsumerModal', () => {
     });
   });
 
+  describe('isProjectValid computed property', () => {
+    it('returns false when targetId is null', () => {
+      expect(wrapper.vm.isProjectValid).toBe(false);
+    });
+
+    it('returns true when targetId has a value', async () => {
+      const projectId = 'gid://gitlab/Project/1000000';
+      await findProjectDropdown().vm.$emit('input', projectId);
+
+      expect(wrapper.vm.isProjectValid).toBe(true);
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('GlFormGroup validation state', () => {
+    it('passes invalid state to form group when no project is selected', () => {
+      expect(findFormGroup().props('state')).toBe(false);
+      expect(findFormGroup().props('invalidFeedback')).toBe('Project is required.');
+    });
+
+    it('passes valid state to form group when project is selected', async () => {
+      const projectId = 'gid://gitlab/Project/1000000';
+      await findProjectDropdown().vm.$emit('input', projectId);
+
+      expect(findFormGroup().props('state')).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+    it('passes isValid prop to project dropdown', () => {
+      expect(findProjectDropdown().props('isValid')).toBe(false);
+    });
+
+    it('passes isValid prop as true to project dropdown when project is selected', async () => {
+      const projectId = 'gid://gitlab/Project/1000000';
+      await findProjectDropdown().vm.$emit('input', projectId);
+
+      expect(findProjectDropdown().props('isValid')).toBe(true);
+    });
+  });
+
   describe('when submitting the form', () => {
     it('emits the submit event', async () => {
       const projectId = 'gid://gitlab/Project/1000000';
diff --git a/ee/spec/frontend/ai/catalog/components/form_project_dropdown_spec.js b/ee/spec/frontend/ai/catalog/components/form_project_dropdown_spec.js
index 9cf81a71c35c51758cf44fd2d88be5090fedd546..e7ecbdd0b5655384c025e31c53b52747a651270e 100644
--- a/ee/spec/frontend/ai/catalog/components/form_project_dropdown_spec.js
+++ b/ee/spec/frontend/ai/catalog/components/form_project_dropdown_spec.js
@@ -201,4 +201,26 @@ describe('FormProjectDropdown', () => {
       expect(wrapper.emitted('input')).toEqual([['gid://gitlab/Project/1']]);
     });
   });
+
+  describe('isValid prop', () => {
+    it('defaults to true when not provided', () => {
+      expect(findListbox().props('toggleClass')).toEqual({});
+    });
+
+    it('applies error styling when isValid is false', () => {
+      createComponent({ props: { isValid: false } });
+
+      expect(findListbox().props('toggleClass')).toEqual({
+        'gl-shadow-inner-1-red-500': true,
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('does not apply error styling when isValid is true', () => {
+      createComponent({ props: { isValid: true } });
+
+      expect(findListbox().props('toggleClass')).toEqual({
+        'gl-shadow-inner-1-red-500': false,
+      });
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/locale/gitlab.pot b/locale/gitlab.pot
index caff951fe6ea120bd272f0be7cd30e16a6238ed5..2a501dabf4615aca55634c468333f7f6c498d6c3 100644
--- a/locale/gitlab.pot
+++ b/locale/gitlab.pot
@@ -50421,6 +50421,9 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "Project information"
 msgstr ""
 
+msgid "Project is required."
+msgstr ""
+
 msgid "Project members"
 msgstr ""