Report from MediaPost
In Brief – The AI transparency rules required by Article 50 of the EU’s AI Act have taken effect, requiring companies to clearly disclose when users are interacting with artificial intelligence or viewing AI-generated or manipulated images, audio and video. The rules require chatbots and other interactive AI systems to identify themselves as AI, providers must label deepfakes and ensure AI-generated or altered content contains machine-readable markers to facilitate detection, and companies using emotion recognition or biometric categorization systems must also notify affected individuals. The Commission issued guidance explaining compliance obligations and how adherence to the voluntary code of practice on transparency can help demonstrate conformity. While industry groups have expressed support for transparency objectives, some raised implementation concerns, including calls for clearer guidance and warnings that broad deepfake definitions could lead to excessive notifications.
Context – The “Brussels Effect” hopes of many AI Act backers have not come to pass, at least not yet, as the Trump Administration’s vocal commitment to AI investment and deregulation influenced policy in many markets, including the EU, which made some AI Act implementation adjustments and rule refinements in its Digital Omnibus. That said, AI Act implementation continues, including for the major sections of the General-Purpose AI Code of Practice published by the Commission in July of 2025. Along with the framework’s Transparency obligations, the Copyright section requires public summaries of training data and machine-readable opt-outs for publishers, and the Safety rules apply systemic risk frameworks to the largest AI model developers. The core copyright and systemic safety mandates went into effect on August 2, 2025, and the transparency rules officially entered into force on August 2, 2026, although existing models have been given grace periods pushing enforcement off until December 2026 for the transparency regime and mid-2027 for the copyright and safety rules.