← Concept Index

Law, standards & governance

Provider or deployer?

Also called: who is responsible, roles under the AI Act

DEFINITION

The AI Act assigns duties by role. A provider develops or places an AI system on the market; a deployer uses one under its own authority. The same organisation can be both, and the roles carry different obligations.

WHY IT MATTERS

Your duties depend on which hat you wear. Buying and using a tool (deployer) is different from building or substantially modifying one (provider) — and modifying a system can turn a deployer into a provider.

COMMONLY CONFUSED WITH

A single 'user' category. The law deliberately separates who builds from who operates, because they control different risks.

SOURCES

First-pass citations, limited to primary sources; a reviewer will broaden and verify these before this entry leaves draft.