# Provider

A company or other body that builds an AI system or model, or has one built, and offers it under its own name, paid or free.

The EU AI Act (Article 3(3)) says: "a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body that develops an AI system or a general-purpose AI model or that has an AI system or a general-purpose AI model developed and places it on the market or puts the AI system into service under its own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge."
A company that only uses a system is a deployer. It becomes the provider of a high-risk system if it puts its own name on it or makes a substantial change to it (Article 25).

Also called: Developer, AI provider, Model provider

The other half: Deployer

Source: https://redfinchadvisory.com/lexicon/provider (version 1.0, changed 2026-10-21)