What it asks for. The article defines the key terms of the AI Act, including AI system, provider, deployer, importer, distributor, operator, intended purpose, reasonably foreseeable misuse, substantial modification, serious incident, general-purpose AI model and general-purpose AI system, as well as terms for biometric systems.
In practice. An AI system is a machine-based system designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy, that may exhibit adaptiveness after deployment, and that infers from input how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments. Whether an organisation is a provider or a deployer drives most obligations, and a deployer that substantially modifies a system or puts its name on it can become a provider. Organisations should apply these definitions when building their AI inventory and record their role for each system.
Common gaps. A common gap is misjudging roles, for example a company that fine-tunes or rebrands a third-party model without realising it may have taken on provider obligations.