Is the AI we use in Zendesk covered by the EU AI Act?

Is sentiment analysis emotion recognition?

• Only on biometric data.
• Article 3, point (39) defines an emotion recognition system as an AI system for the purpose of identifying or inferring emotions or intentions of natural persons on the basis of their biometric data.
• Reading the tone of a written ticket is not that.
• Recognising emotions in a voice or a face can be, and point 1(c) of Annex III lists it in so far as its use is permitted under relevant Union or national law.
• AI in customer service takes the cases further.

• Article 50(3): a deployer of an emotion recognition system or a biometric categorisation system informs the natural persons exposed to it of its operation, and processes their personal data in accordance with the GDPR and the other Union data protection acts it names, as applicable. The duty does not apply to such systems permitted by law to detect, prevent or investigate criminal offences, subject to appropriate safeguards and in accordance with Union law.
• Article 5(1), first subparagraph, point (f): placing on the market, putting into service for this specific purpose or using AI systems to infer the emotions of a natural person in the areas of workplace and education institutions is prohibited, except where the use is intended to be put in place or into the market for medical or safety reasons.

What does a customer-facing bot owe?

• Disclosure, designed in by its provider.
• Article 50 applies from 2 August 2026, the general date in Article 113, second paragraph, except that a provider of a system generating synthetic audio, image, video or text content placed on the market before that date has until 2 December 2026 to comply with Article 50(2) (Article 111(4)).
• If you only use a bot bought with the platform, ask its provider how it meets the duty; if you built and launched it under your own name, it is yours.

• Article 50(1): the provider of an AI system intended to interact directly with natural persons designs and develops it so that they are informed they are interacting with an AI system, unless this is obvious from the point of view of a natural person who is reasonably well-informed, observant and circumspect, taking into account the circumstances and the context of use. The duty does not apply to systems authorised by law to detect, prevent, investigate or prosecute criminal offences, subject to appropriate safeguards, unless they are available for the public to report a criminal offence.
• Article 50(5): the information is given in a clear and distinguishable manner at the latest at the time of the first interaction or exposure, and conforms to the applicable accessibility requirements.

What applies to every use?

• Article 4 on AI literacy, for the agents and anyone else working with the systems on your behalf.
• Chapters I and II, which hold Articles 4 and 5, apply from 2 February 2025 (Article 113, third paragraph, point (a), as replaced by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744).
• That point keeps two later dates: Article 5(1), first subparagraph, points (ba) and (bb) apply from 2 December 2026, as do Article 5(1a) and (1b).

• Article 4(1), as replaced by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744: providers and deployers of AI systems take measures to support the development of AI literacy of their staff and of other persons dealing with the operation and use of AI systems on their behalf, taking into account their technical knowledge, experience, education and training and the context of use, and considering the persons or groups of persons on whom the systems are to be used. The obligation does not require them to guarantee any specific level of AI literacy of any individual.

What about the company that makes the tool?

• Whoever provides the AI system or the general-purpose AI model behind a tool carries the provider’s duties, and they are that provider’s own.
• This page says nothing about how any vendor meets them: nothing here was read from a vendor’s own terms, and the duties above are yours whatever those terms say.