Safer and more transparent AI in the EU

Since 02 Aug 2026 new rules on the transparency of AI systems take effect.

AI is advancing quickly, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish AI-generated and manipulated content from human-created and authentic content. This creates new risks of misinformation and manipulation at scale, fraud, impersonation, and consumer deception.

The new transparency obligations will help people recognise when they are interacting with AI or are exposed to AI-generated content, so they can make informed decisions and better protect themselves from misinformation or deception.

Transparency obligations for providers and deployers of certain AI systems

• Marking and labelling of AI-generated content: certain AI-generated or manipulated content must be clearly and visibly labelled and include machine-readable marks. The EU has created a set of icons that can be used for this purpose. This applies to
  • images, audio, and video content that resemble existing persons, objects, places, entities, or events (deepfakes)
  • emotion recognition and biometric categorisation tools
  • text published to inform the public on matters of public interest where there has been no human review or editorial control.
• Transparency when interacting with an AI system: Users must be clearly informed when they are not interacting with a real person, but an AI system, for example a chatbot, AI agent, and avatar.

The Commission has published guidelines to assist providers and deployers of AI systems in meeting these transparency obligations. The guidelines explain how compliance can be demonstrated, including through adherence to a code of practice.

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