EU AI Act transparency rules become applicable

From 2 August 2026, providers and deployers of AI systems must meet four sets of transparency obligations: people must be told when they are interacting directly with an AI system; AI-generated or AI-manipulated audio, image, video and text content must be marked in a machine-readable format; the use of emotion recognition and biometric categorisation must be disclosed; and deepfakes as well as AI-generated texts on matters of public interest must be labelled as such. Breaches can draw fines of up to €15 million or 3 % of worldwide annual turnover.

The deadline follows from Article 113 of AI Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, which entered into force on 1 August 2024 with its obligations phased in over time. The 'Digital Omnibus on AI' of July 2026 postponed the deadlines for high-risk systems but left the Article 50 transparency obligations due on 2 August 2026 untouched. The European Commission adopted accompanying guidelines and a code of practice on marking on 20 July 2026.