AI Act Article 50 and support chatbots: what has applied since 2 August 2026

“Providers shall ensure that AI systems intended to interact directly with natural persons are designed and developed in such a way that the natural persons concerned are informed that they are interacting with an AI system, unless this is obvious from the point of view of a natural person who is reasonably well-informed, observant and circumspect, taking into account the circumstances and the context of use. This obligation shall not apply to AI systems authorised by law to detect, prevent, investigate or prosecute criminal offences, subject to appropriate safeguards for the rights and freedoms of third parties, unless those systems are available for the public to report a criminal offence.”

“The information referred to in paragraphs 1 to 4 shall be provided to the natural persons concerned in a clear and distinguishable manner at the latest at the time of the first interaction or exposure. The information shall conform to the applicable accessibility requirements.”

“Article 50(5) AI Act requires the information to be provided to the natural persons concerned at the latest at the time of the first interaction or exposure. The first interaction or exposure refers not only to the first natural person interacting with or exposed to (the output of) an AI system, but also any subsequent, first interaction with or exposure to (the output of) the AI system by any other natural person. As regards the first interaction with an AI-system, the information should, at least, be provided once at the start of an interactive session, while considering the specific contexts mentioned in point above. [...] First interaction: when launching a conversation with a chatbot or starting physical interaction with an AI system.”

“‘provider’ means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body that develops an AI system or a general-purpose AI model or that has an AI system or a general-purpose AI model developed and places it on the market or puts the AI system into service under its own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge;”

“‘deployer’ means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body using an AI system under its authority except where the AI system is used in the course of a personal non-professional activity;”

“According to Article 3(3) AI Act, providers are natural or legal persons, public authorities, agencies or other bodies that develop AI systems, or have them developed, and place them on the Union market or put them into service under their own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge. Providers must comply with the relevant transparency obligations in Article 50(1) and (2) AI Act applicable to them, irrespective of whether they are established or located within the Union or in a third country. [...] Providers must ensure their interactive or generative AI systems have transparency embedded into the system’s design and operation and ensure all relevant transparency obligations in Articles 50(1), (2) and (5) AI Act are met at the latest when those systems are placed on the market or put into service. All natural persons interacting with the AI system or exposed to its outputs in scope must be effectively and consistently informed throughout the lifecycle of the AI system, as placed on the market or put into service by that provider (irrespective of who the deployers or other users of the system are). For example, a company provides a generative or interactive AI application (e.g. a chatbot, image generator, AI agent) on the Union market under its own name or trademark to consumers, professional users or other legal entities who may directly use the AI system for interaction or content generation (including by integrating the system into their existing processes and using it accordingly without the need for modifications or additional components). The company is a provider responsible for compliance with the transparency obligations in Article 50(1) and/or (2) AI Act, regardless of whether the AI system is provided for free or for payment and regardless of whether the provider is established or located in the Union or in a third country. Another example of a provider is a company or another organisation (e.g. a public authority) that has developed an interactive AI system (e.g. chatbot) in-house and puts it into service in the Union for its own use and under its name or trademark.”

“Examples of AI systems intended to interact directly with natural persons falling within scope of Article 50(1) AI Act: - AI-enabled voice assistants, chatbots/conversational agents in various contexts (e.g. public service, customer support, complaints management, e-commerce, finance, healthcare, education etc.), - AI hotline for incidents, fraud or other reporting, (humanoid) robots/cobots, AI companions; robotic companion pets; AI avatars (e.g. in virtual reality environments), - AI bots on social networks and media, coding agents and other AI agents capable of directly interacting with natural persons (including in complex multi-agent architectures).”

“The exception should be interpreted restrictively given that it deprives natural persons from the protection and the right to be informed with clear and distinguishable disclosures that they are interacting with AI systems. The general awareness of consumers and other natural persons that AI systems (including chatbots and agents) exist does not imply that they recognise them in interactions.”

“Textual disclosure (User Interface (UI)-based): Prominent, plain-language labels or banners (e.g. “You are interacting with an AI system”) and first-turn greetings in chatbots that may be combined, as appropriate, with persistent badges or labels visible throughout the interaction as proportionate to the specific context and risks. Furthermore, it is recommended to position accompanying disclosures close to the interaction interface (e.g. near the input/output field) and use simplified wording, particularly for users with lower digital literacy and children.”

“Certain techniques are not necessary and, when used alone, insufficient for effectively fulfilling the transparency obligation in Article 50(1) and (5) AI Act, notably: - Disclosures contained only in terms and conditions, URLs, or documentation (such disclosures may complement, though not replace, in-context disclosure); - Machine-readable markings (e.g. metadata or watermarks) that are not perceivable by users at the point of interaction. This does not affect the appropriateness of such marks to comply with Article 50(2) AI Act (see Section 4); - Unclear or ambiguous signals (e.g. generic references to “assistant”) or human-like representations that may mislead users; - Generalised disclosures that are not sufficiently specific to the AI system’s outputs and interactions (e.g. on a platform providing a variety of services or individual inputs, a general disclosure like “Services on this website use AI” is insufficient); - Technical or capability-based descriptions: statements solely referring to underlying technologies (e.g. “this system uses LLMs”) without explaining the function or implications of the system for the user and its artificial origin.”

“This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. It shall apply from 2 August 2026. However: (a) Chapters I and II shall apply from 2 February 2025, with the exception of Article 5(1), first subparagraph, points (ba) and (bb), and Article 5(1a) and (1b) which shall apply from 2 December 2026; (b) Chapter III Section 4, Chapter V, Chapter VII and Chapter XII and Article 78 shall apply from 2 August 2025, with the exception of Article 101; (c) Chapter III, Sections 1, 2, and 3, with the exception of Article 6(5), shall apply from: (i) 2 December 2027 as regards AI systems classified as high-risk pursuant to Article 6(2) and Annex III; and (ii) 2 August 2028 as regards AI systems classified as high-risk pursuant to Article 6(1) and Annex I; (d) Articles 102 to 110 shall apply from 27 July 2026. This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.”

“Providers of AI systems, including general-purpose AI systems, generating synthetic audio, image, video or text content, that have been placed on the market before 2 August 2026 shall take the necessary steps in order to comply with Article 50(2) by 2 December 2026.”

“Non-compliance with any of the following provisions related to operators or notified bodies, other than those laid down in Articles 5, shall be subject to administrative fines of up to EUR 15 000 000 or, if the offender is an undertaking, up to 3 % of its total worldwide annual turnover for the preceding financial year, whichever is higher: (a) obligations of providers pursuant to Article 16; (b) obligations of authorised representatives pursuant to Article 22; (c) obligations of importers pursuant to Article 23; (d) obligations of distributors pursuant to Article 24; (da) obligations of providers and operators pursuant to Article 25(2) and (4); (e) obligations of deployers pursuant to Article 26; (f) requirements and obligations of notified bodies pursuant to Article 31, Article 33(1), (3) and (4) or Article 34; (g) transparency obligations for providers and deployers pursuant to Article 50.”

“In the case of SMEs, including start-ups, each fine referred to in this Article shall be up to the percentages or amount referred to in paragraphs 3, 4 and 5, whichever thereof is lower.”

“In the case of SMCs, each fine referred to in paragraphs 4 and 5 shall be up to the percentages or amount referred therein, whichever is lower.”

“Such clarity is essential for providers and deployers of AI systems, since the transparency obligations are directly applicable as from 2 August 2026. In view of this imminent entry into application and the time necessary for the translation of the guidelines into all languages, the Commission is called upon to approve the content of draft Communication from the Commission on Guidelines on the implementation of the transparency obligations for certain AI systems under Article 50 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689. The Guidelines will be formally adopted by the Commission at a later date, when all language versions are available. It is only from that moment that these Guidelines will be applicable.”