Australian legislation does not presently contain a single, generally applicable statutory definition of ‘AI system’, ‘AI technology producer’, ‘provider’, ‘deployer’ or ‘user’ for all purposes. Definitions can instead arise within particular statutes, contracts, technical standards or sector-specific rules and must be read in their own context.

The National AI Centre’s current terms page uses an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)-aligned concept of an AI system: a machine-based system that infers from inputs how to generate outputs, such as predictions, content, recommendations or decisions, capable of influencing physical or virtual environments; AI systems differ in autonomy and post-deployment adaptiveness. The guidance also uses the following non-statutory role descriptions:

• AI deployer: an individual or organisation that supplies or uses an AI system to provide a product or service, whether internally or externally.
• AI technology producer: an organisation or entity that designs, develops, tests and provides AI technologies such as models and components.
• AI platform, product or service provider: an organisation or entity that provides products or services using one or more AI systems.
• AI user: an entity that uses or relies on an AI system.

The OAIC distinguishes the underlying model from the broader AI system in which it is deployed. As an explanatory matter, that broader system may also encompass data, software, interfaces and operational processes. Governance controls and human decision points may be important components of a deployment, but they should be identified as contextual system-design features rather than presented as a verbatim OAIC definition.