LANDMARK · 8 MIN · JUDGE
Provider or deployer?
After this landmark, you can tell whether your role in a given AI use makes you a provider or a deployer, and why that changes what you owe.
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This concept is shared, but the Everyday lens is less central here.
You can still explore it. We’re showing the shared explanation and a related practical view without hiding the knowledge.
The EU AI Act assigns different obligations to different roles in the chain. Roughly, a provider develops or places an AI system on the market, while a deployer uses one under its own authority — and the provider carries the heavier set of duties. The trap is assuming that because you only “use” a tool you built on top of, you’re just a deployer. Substantially modifying a system, putting your own name on it, or changing what it’s intended for can turn a deployer into a provider, with all the added obligations that come with it. Knowing which hat you’re wearing for each use is what tells you which duties apply.
This is the canonical concept. It stays the same across learner lenses so personalization never changes the underlying facts.
◌ EVERYDAY LENS
What this looks like for you
As an individual you’re almost never a provider, but it’s worth knowing that the organisation behind a tool carries far more responsibility than its end users.
MAKE A DECISION
You take an open model, fine-tune it on your data, rebrand it, and sell access to customers as your own product. What role are you most likely in?
CARRY THISFor one AI system you touch, write down your role — provider or deployer — and one change that could move you from the lighter role into the heavier one.