The European Commission puts AI transparency rules into practice

The European Commission will now enforce the AI transparency rules from the 2024 AI Act, slapping rule-breakers with hefty fines. In 2024, the European Commission outlined new guidelines and rules on the transparency of AI systems across the bloc. Under the new transparency requirements, companies, institutions, bodies, and agencies must label AI-generated or manipulated content clearly and visibly. The EU has created a set of icons for the occasion - "AI", "AI Generated", and "AI Modified".

Labelling applies to images, audio, and video content that resemble existing persons, objects, places, entities, or events (deepfakes), emotion recognition and biometric categorization tools, as well as text published to inform the public on matters of public interest where there has been no human review or editorial control.

The EU will also require companies to inform users when they are not interacting with a real person, but an AI system like a chatbot.

Companies that fail to comply face fines of up to €15 million or 3% of annual turnover. EU institutions, bodies, and agencies can be fined up to €750,000, with proportional penalties applying to SMEs and small mid-cap companies.

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