5 minute read | April.09.2024
This overview is part of a wider series of articles on the AI Act. For recommended steps to take in the first six months, our latest update is available here.
The European AI Act has a broad material and territorial scope of application. We have outlined below the main categories of actors that are impacted.
The AI Act applies to all operators in the AI value chain: providers, deployers, importers, distributors and product manufacturers.
The notions of “placing on the market” and “making available on the market” are key in the analysis of the scope of the regulation. The AI Act refers to these activities for specifying its application to different actors:
The use of output in the EU is also a criterion for the applicability of the AI Act. The regulation does not define what this means, but practical examples are provided in Recital 12.[1] Operators should look for guidance provided by the EU Commission or any other body on this specific concept.
Operators | The AI Act applies if: | The AI Act does not apply if: |
Providers |
the provider places an AI system on the market and/or the provider puts into service an AI system on the market and/or the provider places a general-purpose AI model on the market and/or the provider’s AI system’s output is used in the EU |
none of the scenarios mentioned in the first column apply |
Deployers |
the deployer uses an AI system to generate outputs that are used in the EU |
generated outputs are not used in the EU |
Product manufacturers |
the product manufacturer places an AI system together with its product offered under its name or trademark on the market and/or the product manufacturer put into service an AI system together with its product offered under their own name or trademark on the market |
none of the scenarios mentioned in the first column apply |
Distributors | the distributor makes an AI system available on the market | the distributor does not make the AI system available on the market |
Businesses should assess whether the regulation applies to them, and which category of actor they belong to. This will help a company identify key priorities as part of the compliance process. See our note regarding initial measures to adopt, here.
If you have questions about the EU AI Act, reach out to the authors (Julia Apostle, Christian Schröder, Sarah Schaedler and Rami Kawkabani) or other members of Orrick’s AI team.
[1] “This is the case for example of an operator established in the Union that contracts certain services to an operator established outside the Union in relation to an activity to be performed by an AI system that would qualify as high risk. In those circumstances, the AI system used by the operator outside the Union could process data lawfully collected in and transferred from the Union, and provide to the contracting operator in the Union the output of that AI system resulting from that processing, without that AI system being placed on the market, put into service or used in the Union”