What happened
The European Commission published its Code of Practice on Transparency of AI-Generated Content, designed to support compliance with AI Act Article 50 transparency obligations that take effect on 2 August 2026. The Code sets out how AI system providers should mark AI-generated content in machine-readable form and how deployers should label deepfakes and AI-generated public-interest text. Adherence supports a presumption of conformity with the AI Act's Article 50 requirements.
Why it matters
With the August 2 effective date eight weeks away, any enterprise deploying generative AI for content creation, synthetic media, or automated public communications needs to validate its output-labelling and watermarking controls against the Code's requirements now. Failure to comply is an AI Act violation with enforcement consequences.
Action needed
Map your organisation's generative AI content outputs (including deepfakes, synthetic voice, AI-generated text for public communications) against the Code of Practice requirements. Confirm that machine-readable content marking mechanisms are in place before 2 August 2026.