Do I need to register my business somewhere for using AI tools?
Not in the EU AI database, if your business uses AI tools made by others and is not a public body or acting for one.
Drafted with AI help and checked against the official EU text before publishing.
Not in the EU AI database, if your business uses AI tools made by others and is not a public body or acting for one. A business that builds an AI system and offers it under its own name may be a provider, and some providers must register.
Article 49 of the AI Act sets out who registers in the EU database. Among businesses that use AI tools, only public authorities, EU bodies and those acting on their behalf register, and only for certain high-risk uses. A business that builds an AI system and places it on the market under its own name is a provider. It may have to register under Article 49(1) or (2), whatever its size.
Not registering does not mean nothing applies. Article 4 asks providers and deployers to take measures to support the AI literacy of their staff. If a chatbot talks to your customers, the chatbot's maker must make sure people are told it is an AI, unless that is obvious (Article 50(1)); check that the one you use does.
This is general information, not legal advice.
What the law actually says
"Before putting into service or using a high-risk AI system listed in Annex III, with the exception of high-risk AI systems listed in point 2 of Annex III, deployers that are public authorities, Union institutions, bodies, offices or agencies or persons acting on their behalf shall register themselves, select the system and register its use in the EU database referred to in Article 71."— EU AI Act, Article 49(3) (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, not amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744) · eur-lex.europa.eu
In plain words
- Using AI tools made by others, and not a public body or acting for one? Article 49 does not ask you to register them in the EU database.
- Building an AI system and offering it under your own name? You may be a provider, and providers of some systems must register.
- Businesses that use AI tools still have other duties, such as supporting their staff's AI literacy (Article 4).
- Will look for signs of AI use in the folders you choose, and write them down for you.
- Will write a plain-language readiness report. No evidence reads "Not assessed", never a green tick.
- Will run as a free Windows program on your own computer and send nothing from it.
- Coming with Guard: a check every month, kept so you can see your history and what changed since the last one.
- Coming with Guard: a printable readiness pack built from your check results — AI use found, training notes, disclosure checklist.
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