On 2 August 2026 the transparency duties of the EU AI Act took effect. That is Article 50. It sounds like something for large corporations, but it also catches the painting firm with a chatbot on its website.
First the sentence that belongs here: I am not a lawyer. I write down what I have understood and what I put into practice on my own projects. If a lot depends on this for you, ask someone who carries the liability.
The two cases that affect small businesses
First, the chatbot. If your site has a window where visitors can type and an AI answers, you have to tell the visitor they are speaking to a machine. Not in the small print, but where they will see it.
One sentence is enough. For example: "An AI assistant answers here. For an answer from me personally, send me an email."
Second, images, audio and video. If you publish content that is artificially generated and meant to look genuine, you have to make its origin recognisable. That is aimed above all at deepfakes. An AI image in your advertising that looks like a real photo belongs in that direction.
Plain writing help does not usually fall under this. If you word your quote with AI and then edit it yourself, you do not have to note that on the quote.
What you actually do
Walk through your site once and answer three questions.
- Do I have a chatbot? If so, is there a notice there before the visitor starts typing?
- Do I have images on the site or in my advertising that an AI made and that look like real photos? If so, does it say anywhere that they are artificial?
- Do I have videos or voice recordings that an AI generated?
If you find a yes without a notice anywhere, that is your job for this week.
What does not apply to you
Much of what is being written about the AI Act at the moment does not concern you at all.
The strict rules for so-called high-risk systems apply to providers, meaning people who build and sell AI systems. If you use ChatGPT, you are not building anything. Those deadlines were also pushed back again in July 2026, to December 2027 and August 2028 respectively.
There is a duty of AI literacy. It sounds worse than it is. You do not have to produce a certificate. You are expected to have looked at what AI can do and where it talks nonsense. Some reading, an afternoon with someone who knows the field, a short note about it in your files: that is the direction.
What I have done on my own site
There is no chatbot on this site. That is not an accident, it is a decision. A chatbot would have meant an outside service, my visitors' data sitting on it, and a consent window for everyone. My promise that nothing here goes to outside servers matters more to me than that.
If you want a chatbot, I will build you one. But I will tell you honestly beforehand what it costs, not only in money but in duties.
