What is actor role assessment?
Actor role assessment is the governed determination of whether an organisation acts as provider, deployer, importer, or distributor for a specific AI system. This is not a theoretical classification — it is the operational starting point that determines which obligations apply.
The same organisation may hold different roles for different systems. The assessment must be documented, attributed, and reviewed as part of the screening process, because a wrong actor-role assumption leads to wrong obligation mapping.
Key points
- Actor role is determined per system, not per organisation. A company can be a deployer for one system and a provider for another.
- The boundary between deployer and provider can shift: substantial modification, own branding, or changed intended purpose may turn a deployer into a provider.
- Actor role must be assessed before obligations can be mapped. A risk classification without actor-role context produces incomplete governance.
- The assessment must be documented as a governance decision with attribution, not assumed by default.
Why it matters
Actor role determines the entire downstream governance path. A provider faces conformity assessment, technical documentation, and post-market monitoring obligations. A deployer faces oversight, transparency, and monitoring obligations. Misidentifying the role means misidentifying every obligation that follows — creating a governance record that may be structurally wrong.
How EAB approaches this
EAB includes a dedicated Actor Role Assessment as part of the screening process. The result feeds directly into the Obligation Matrix to ensure correct obligation mapping. The assessment is stored as part of the governance record with attribution and versioning.