Guidelines on transparency obligations for providers and deployers of certain AI systems under Article 50 of the AI Act

Final guidelines (C(2026) 5054 final), adopted following consultation on the draft version of 8 May 2026. They clarify the scope, definitions and content of obligations for providers and deployers: designing systems so that people know they are communicating with AI, marking AI-generated or manipulated content in machine-readable form, informing people about deepfakes, about AI-generated text on matters of public concern without human editorial oversight, and about emotion recognition and biometric categorisation. Exceptions such as standard processing operations and artistic or satirical context are addressed. Separate paragraphs address the interplay with data protection law and refer to joint guidelines to be drawn up by the Commission and EDPB. Non-binding, but directive for how supervisors interpret Article 50. The obligations apply from 2 August 2026.