Article 50(2): machine-readable marking of AI-generated content

“Providers of AI systems, including general-purpose AI systems, generating synthetic audio, image, video or text content, that have been placed on the market before 2 August 2026 shall take the necessary steps in order to comply with Article 50(2) by 2 December 2026.”

“To allow sufficient time for providers of generative AI systems subject to the marking obligations laid down in Article 50(2) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 to adapt their practices within a reasonable time without disrupting the market, it is appropriate to introduce a transitional period of four months for providers who have already placed their systems on the market before the 2 August 2026.”

“Providers shall ensure their technical solutions are effective, interoperable, robust and reliable as far as this is technically feasible, taking into account the specificities and limitations of various types of content, the costs of implementation and the generally acknowledged state of the art, as may be reflected in relevant technical standards.”

“This obligation shall not apply to the extent the AI systems perform an assistive function for standard editing or do not substantially alter the input data provided by the deployer or the semantics thereof, or where authorised by law to detect, prevent, investigate or prosecute criminal offences.”

“Signatories will implement a multi-layered marking approach to ensure that the outputs of their generative AI systems are marked with at least two layers of machine-readable marking, as specified in Sub-measures 1.1.1 and 1.1.2 below.”

“All recorded information will be digitally signed and time-stamped (on systems where time information is available) in a secure and tamper-evident manner.”

“Signatories will ensure that AI-generated or manipulated content is marked with an imperceptible watermark, with the exception of very short text.”

“given that free-form text cannot transport metadata, a single-layer of marking as described in Sub-measure 1.1.2 is considered sufficient to comply with the requirements of Article 50(2) AI Act for this specific type of content.”

“However, relying on fingerprinting or logging alone is not considered sufficient to meet the quality requirements specified in Article 50(2) AI Act and in Commitment 3.”

“Non-compliance with any of the following provisions related to operators or notified bodies, other than those laid down in Articles 5, shall be subject to administrative fines of up to EUR 15 000 000 or, if the offender is an undertaking, up to 3 % of its total worldwide annual turnover for the preceding financial year, whichever is higher: … (g) transparency obligations for providers and deployers pursuant to Article 50.”