You may have seen headlines in recent days claiming that “the August 2 deadline for the AI Act has been postponed.” This is only half true, and the confusion could be costly. Through the so-called Digital Omnibus package, the European Union has indeed postponed the most onerous part of the regulation—the obligations for high-risk AI systems have been pushed back to December 2027. But the transparency obligations under Article 50 of the AI Act took effect on August 2, 2026, exactly as planned, and it is precisely these obligations that affect an ordinary small business that is already using AI tools.
The good news is that, for most companies with 10 to 50 employees, we’re not talking about costly red tape, but rather two simple steps to ensure honesty toward the customer.
- Chatbot or AI assistant on the website: If a visitor is chatting with an AI tool, it must be clear that they are talking to a machine, not a human. Most commercial solutions have a setting that can be enabled for this.
- Realistic AI content (deepfakes): If you publish AI-generated images, videos, or audio that appear authentic, you must disclose that they were created or modified using AI. There is an exception for content that is clearly artistic.
- AI-generated text on topics of public interest: If you publish AI-generated text on topics of public interest without human review, it must be labeled as such—a situation that is less common for a typical business.
As for the fines mentioned in the headlines—up to 15 million euros or 3% of global revenue—they do exist, but regulatory authorities apply the principle of proportionality to small businesses and startups. In other words, the goal isn’t to fine a small workshop or service company simply because it has a chatbot, but to stop large-scale misinformation and fraud.
Our advice, as always: don’t panic, and don’t pay for expensive consulting services for something you can check right now. Check the chatbot on the site—does it identify itself as AI? Check the realistic AI content you’re publishing—is it labeled? That’s it. The high-risk rules—the complicated ones—don’t apply to you yet, and when they do, you’ll have time to prepare.
The European Commission's guidance on the transparency obligations under Article 50 is published here: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/guidelines-transparency-ai-generated-content
This article was generated with AI assistance.