In the IEEE 802.1X authentication process, the AP acts as an authenticator.
According to the Lecture 5 - Security - Part 1 document, the AP's role in the IEEE 802.1X authentication process is to act as an authenticator. This means that the AP acts as a gatekeeper between the client device (supplicant) and the RADIUS server (authentication server). The AP forwards authentication messages between the supplicant and the server and grants or denies network access based on the server's response.