Today, 2 August 2026, the transparency obligations of Article 50 of the AI Act enter into application. After months of countdown, the date is no longer in the future. It deserves a brief note — precisely because, if the work is done, nothing spectacular happens today. And that's the point.
What exactly changes today
From today, for every system Article 50 reaches — those already in use and those added later —:
- Systems that interact with people must make it known that they are AI — with the division of roles we already explained: the design is the provider's; the diligent verification, the deployer's.
- Synthetic content must be identifiable, deepfakes must be labelled, and text published to inform the public must be declared — except via the editorial review route, which for most SMEs that publish with editorial judgement is the natural coverage.
- And as we reported this week, the market surveillance machinery that can ask about all of the above also starts up.
One transitional nuance worth keeping in mind: for systems already on the market before today, the technical marking of synthetic content has an extension until 2 December 2026. It isn't a general second chance — it's a transitional regime limited to those systems.
If you closed out July, today is Monday
The closing checklist we published a few days ago was exactly this: the sublist of affected systems, the chatbot check, the labelling criteria, the editorial workflow, and the record of all of it. Whoever completed it has no new task today: their notices were already visible yesterday, their criteria were already written, their file already carries a July date. A rule's entry into application is a non-event for those who prepared — which is the best possible description of good governance.
Those who didn't get there shouldn't tell themselves stories, but shouldn't panic either: the five tasks on that checklist are still the same, they still take days rather than months, and every day they're done and recorded is a day less of exposure. Starting late is worse than starting on time, and far better than not starting.
What comes next
The calendar doesn't stop here. On 2 December 2026 the marking transitional period expires for systems that predate today, and the new Article 5 prohibitions on systems generating child sexual abuse material and non-consensual intimate images start applying, on the date set by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744. Beyond that, high risk under Annex III points to late 2027 under the calendar set by the Digital Omnibus. Every date, like this one, will reward the same thing: having arrived with the evidence already built.
Today transparency stops being a plan. Welcome as it is: it was the most reasonable obligation in the Regulation, and the cheapest to get right.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.