Buyers and vendors of AI systems ask each other a lot of questions. Unless the system is off-the-shelf software, they also negotiate a contract. Both sides want to protect their rights. The buyer wants to make sure the vendor delivers what it promised, and the vendor wants a customer who stays happy.
And with AI, it gets more complicated. Under the EU AI Act, the obligations of each side depend on its role, and the role depends on what the system is for and what each side does with it. Much of what the buyer needs for its own obligations (documentation, logs, notice of changes) only the vendor has. The vendor, in turn, can’t classify the system without knowing how the buyer will use it. Neither side can meet its obligations without the other, and the contract is where they agree how.
That’s why these questions should be asked before signing any contract. Many of the obligations start in December 2027, so a three-year contract signed this year will still be running once they do. Agreed now, they’re part of the deal. Raised in 2027, they’re a renegotiation of a contract.
A buyer doesn’t need all twenty questions for every AI system. The first three questions (what the system is for, whether it’s high-risk in this use, and who is provider and who is deployer) decide which of the other seventeen apply. A chatbot on the support page and a tool that ranks job applicants shouldn’t get the same questionnaire.
If you buy AI systems, this list of questions includes what to ask and what a good answer contains. If you sell them, it’s the questionnaire that’s coming. Answer all twenty questions for one of your products to see where you stand. Where you don’t have the answer yet, write down when you will.
Below in the article: twenty questions, grouped into four parts, each with when it becomes an obligation, the provisions behind it, and what a good answer contains. The article also explains what the vendor needs from the customer and what goes into the contract.
There’s also a handout version of the twenty to download for your reference.
