The AI Act Becomes Visible: Europe’s New Transparency Rules Take Effect
A new phase of the EU AI Act has begun. From 2 August, transparency obligations apply to several AI systems and forms of AI-generated content, including deepfakes and interactions with chatbots and AI agents.
NEWS
8/2/20261 min read
For European citizens and businesses, the AI Act is becoming increasingly tangible.
On 2 August 2026, new transparency obligations under the EU AI Act entered into application, introducing requirements designed to make it easier for users to recognise when artificial intelligence is being used or when content has been artificially generated or manipulated.
Users must be informed when they are interacting with certain AI systems rather than a human—for example, chatbots, AI agents or avatars.
Specific AI-generated or manipulated content must also be appropriately labelled. The rules cover areas including deepfake images, audio and video, as well as certain public-interest text produced without human editorial review. Machine-readable marking requirements are also part of the new transparency framework.
The rules mark an important transition in European AI governance: the debate is moving from designing the AI Act towards implementing and enforcing it in real products and services.
For companies deploying AI in customer interaction, communications and content production, transparency now becomes an operational compliance requirement rather than an abstract regulatory principle.
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