EU AI Act compliance for AI-generated images, video and content
Marketing teams adopted image and video generators long before anyone asked what the AI Act says about publishing the output. Article 50 is the relevant provision, and it is about labelling rather than permission.
The rule is straightforward in principle. Content that is artificially generated or manipulated has to be marked as such, and content depicting real people or events in a misleading way needs prominent disclosure regardless of artistic intent.
Are you a provider or a deployer?
The generator vendor is the provider. Your company is the deployer, and the labelling duty on published content sits with you.
How this is classified under the Act
Content generation does not appear in Annex III, so it falls in the limited-risk tier governed by transparency obligations. What matters legally is whether the audience can tell the material was machine-made.
What changes the answer: Generating intimate imagery of real people without consent, or material depicting minors, is prohibited outright. The Omnibus added an explicit ban on both, applying from 2 December 2026.
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Run the free 6-question check →Documents you need
- AI Literacy Policy Article 4
A written policy covering which AI tools you use, which roles interact with them, what those people need to understand, who owns the document, and how it gets updated. Enforceable since 2 February 2025.
- Risk Classification Memo Articles 6, 9 and Annex III
A documented assessment placing each AI system in the Act’s risk tiers, including the Article 5 prohibited-practice check and the Article 6(3) exception assessment, with article citations.
- Transparency Disclosure Article 50
Informs people when they are interacting with an AI system and labels AI-generated or manipulated content. Article 50 applies from 2 August 2026. The narrower Article 50(2) duty on general-purpose models generating synthetic content applies from 2 December 2026.
Obligations that apply
- Article 50(2) Machine-readable marking
Synthetic image, audio, video, and text content has to be marked in a detectable way. Provider-side watermarking helps, and your own disclosure practice is what you control.
- Article 50(4) Deepfake disclosure
Content that depicts real persons, places, or events in a way that could mislead a reasonable viewer needs prominent disclosure. Satire and artistic framing do not remove the duty.
- Article 4 Literacy for the people publishing
Marketing and communications staff need to know which outputs require labelling and where the line sits between assisted editing and synthetic content.
Common mistakes
- Labelling nothing because the images look obviously artificial. The test is whether a reasonable person could be misled, not whether an expert could tell.
- Believing an invisible watermark from the tool discharges your duty. Disclosure to the audience is separate from provider marking.
- Using a real person’s likeness in generated material without consent, which raises both AI Act and personality rights problems.
- Waiting until December 2026 to think about it, then finding the workflow needs rebuilding.
Where the deadlines stand
The AI literacy obligation under Article 4 and the Article 5 prohibitions have been enforceable since 2 February 2025. General-purpose AI model rules applied from 2 August 2025. The Omnibus, published in the Official Journal on 24 July 2026, moved the high-risk dates: standalone high-risk systems under Annex III to 2 December 2027, and high-risk AI embedded in regulated products under Annex I to 2 August 2028. Article 50 transparency obligations still apply from 2 August 2026. Only the narrower Article 50(2) duty on general-purpose models generating synthetic content moved, to 2 December 2026, which is also when the new prohibition on AI-generated intimate imagery and child sexual abuse material takes effect.
The delay applies to the high-risk obligations. It does not move Article 4, which is why a written AI literacy policy is the document most companies are missing today.
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This page describes obligations under Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 as amended by the Omnibus published in the Official Journal on 24 July 2026, and was verified on 29 July 2026. It is general information rather than legal advice, and classification depends on your specific configuration and use. Review by qualified legal counsel is recommended before formal adoption of any compliance document.