AI Vocabulary · 08 Rules & Responsibility

What is Deployer (EU AI Act)?

Under the EU AI Act, anyone who uses an AI system under their own authority at work. If your company uses AI tools, this is your role.

Basic

A deployer is a person or organisation using an AI system under its authority, except for purely personal, non-professional use (Article 3). In German the Act calls this role "Betreiber". A company that gives its team a chat assistant, a law firm using AI to review contracts and a shop using an AI chatbot are all deployers.

Some duties apply to every deployer. Under Article 4, providers and deployers must take measures to support the AI literacy of their staff and others using AI on their behalf. A 2026 amendment clarified that no specific level has to be guaranteed. Under Article 50, deployers who publish deepfakes, or AI-generated text on matters of public interest without human editorial control, must disclose that the content is artificially generated.

Most duties apply only to high-risk AI (Article 26): using the system according to its instructions, assigning human oversight to people with the competence, training and authority for it, monitoring it, keeping logs for at least six months and informing employees before using it at work. After the 2026 amendment, these high-risk rules apply from December 2027, or August 2028 for AI in regulated products.

Why it matters for you

Deployers have far fewer duties than providers, but they are real. And if you rebrand or substantially change a high-risk system, you can become its provider.

Own it

Keep three things on file: an overview of the AI systems you use, how you support your team's AI literacy, and how you label AI content you publish. This entry is an overview, not legal advice.

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