Providers, Deployers, and Why the Labels Matter

The EU AI Act gives everyone a label, and the label decides your homework.

If you build an AI system or put one on the market, you're a provider. If you use someone else's AI system in your work, you're a deployer. Same technology, different seat, different duties.

This matters because most organizations are deployers. You didn't build the hiring tool or the customer service chatbot. You bought it. That doesn't let you off the hook. Deployers still have duties: use the system as instructed, keep an eye on it, keep records, and make sure a human is meaningfully in charge.

So before you sign that vendor contract, ask one question: which label are we wearing? The answer tells you exactly which chapter of the Act to read first.

I explain frameworks; I don't give legal counsel.