Starting on Sunday 2^nd August, transparency rules for the technology will apply in the EU, which will require AI systems to tell users when they are interacting with AI and when content has been generated or altered by it.

The rules cover interactive AI systems, including chatbots, and will require images, video or audio edited or generated using AI to be labelled as such.

AI-generated or altered content will also have to carry machine-readable marks to make them detected more easily.

Henna Virkkunen, executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, said: “AI is a transformative technology that can bring extraordinary benefits to our people and businesses. But we are also seeing that harms can occur if AI is not properly designed and used and the most advanced models create risks on an entirely new scale.

“Europe anticipated this development. With the AI Act, we established a clear, risk-based and durable framework for trustworthy AI – one that gives innovators legal certainty while protecting the public interest. As enforcement begins, we are taking an important step towards AI that people and businesses can understand and trust, and whose benefits are shared widely across our society.”