Definition
A legal obligation, effective 2 August 2026 under the EU AI Act, requiring organisations to clearly label content—text, images, video, audio—that was produced or substantially altered by AI. The label must be machine-readable so platforms can detect and display it automatically.
Why it matters
Any company creating marketing materials, news content, customer communications, or synthetic media for EU audiences must have a disclosure and labelling system in place by August 2026 or face regulatory enforcement. The obligation covers chatbots, AI image generators, and AI translation tools.