From August 2, providers of AI systems in the EU will have to tell people when they are interacting with a machine and add machine-readable marks to AI-generated or manipulated content under new transparency rules.

Launching guidance ahead of the deadline, Henna Virkkunen, European Commission executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, said:

"The Commission supports the smooth and effective application of the AI Act to make AI systems interacting with people such as chatbots and AI agents and AI content more transparent and trustworthy. These guidelines support providers and deployers in meeting their obligations under the AI Act, while helping citizens know when they are interacting with AI."

The new rules require organizations deploying relevant AI systems in the EU to disclose deepfakes to those exposed to them. They also cover AI-generated or manipulated text published to inform the public on matters of public interest, unless it has undergone human review or editorial control, as well as emotion recognition and biometric categorization systems.

The rules cover interactive AI systems such as chatbots, synthetic audio, images, video and text, deepfakes, and AI-generated text on matters of public interest. Systems performing standard editing tasks, such as spelling and grammar correction, are exempt where they do not substantially alter the input.

From August 2, most of the AI Act will apply, and the Commission will gain powers to enforce the rules governing general-purpose AI models.

The EU's AI Act, the first legislation of its kind, entered into force in August 2024, setting out rules for developers of the technology, those integrating it into their software products, and those deploying it.

The European Commission, the executive branch of the EU, first proposed the AI Act in 2021, before ChatGPT thrust generative AI into public view. The Act staggered the introduction of its rules, first banning activities including biometric categorization systems that claim to sort people into groups based on politics, religion, sexual orientation, and race, for example.

The rules for general-purpose AI, which was shoehorned into the law at the last minute to ensure it covers generative AI models such as ChatGPT and others from OpenAI, came into force in 2025.

However, in May, negotiators for the European Parliament and Council agreed to postpone parts of the Act following months of industry complaints. Rules for standalone high-risk AI systems are now due to apply from December 2, 2027, while those covering high-risk systems embedded in regulated products have been pushed back to August 2, 2028. ®