Do I have to tell people they are talking to an AI chatbot?

Yes. Article 50 of the EU AI Act requires AI systems that interact directly with people to be designed so those people are told they are interacting with an AI, unless it is obvious. It also requires AI-generated or manipulated audio, images, video and text to be marked as artificially generated in a machine-readable way, and deepfakes to be disclosed by the deployer. These duties apply from 2 August 2026.

How it works

1. Show a clear notice at the start of any chatbot or voice-assistant conversation.
2. Mark synthetic media in a machine-readable way so it can be detected.
3. Disclose deepfakes, and AI-generated text published to inform the public on matters of public interest, unless a human has reviewed and taken editorial responsibility for it.
4. Keep a record of the notices shown, so you can prove they were there.