The EU has implemented new transparency obligations for AI systems, including mandatory disclosures for user interactions and AI-generated content, while delaying stricter rules for high-risk applications until 2027 amid criticism from digital rights groups.
The European Union has moved into a new phase of its landmark artificial intelligence law, bringing into force transparency rules that require companies to tell people when they are dealing with AI systems while pushing back tougher obligations for high-risk applications until late 2027.
The AI Act, widely described as the world’s first comprehensive law governing artificial intelligence, is being watched closely in the same way the GDPR once reshaped global privacy rules. Under Article 50, firms must clearly disclose when users are interacting with tools such as chatbots, while AI-generated images, video, audio and text must carry machine-readable labels where the rules require it. Developers of biometric categorisation and emotion-recognition systems must also notify affected individuals. The penalty for breaches can reach €15 million or 3% of global annual turnover.
The delay to the Act’s high-risk provisions has drawn criticism from digital rights groups, which argue that the pause weakens safeguards for people most exposed to automated decision-making. Those rules cover systems used in areas such as hiring, education, essential services and migration. EU officials have said more technical standards and implementation guidance are needed before the stricter regime can be applied properly. Even so, the transparency requirements may set a global benchmark, although many AI-driven migration and border surveillance systems used outside the bloc will remain beyond the law’s reach.
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