Fines Up to 15 Million Euros: EU Requires Companies to Label AI Content

As of 2 August, the European Union begins applying new rules obliging companies to place clear visible marks and digital watermarks on realistic content produced or modified using artificial intelligence, as part of the first comprehensive legislative framework in the world for regulating these technologies, known as the "Artificial Intelligence Act".

This step aims to curb digital disinformation, enhance transparency, and protect democracy and consumers, while imposing strict fines on violators reaching up to 15 million euros or 3% of a company's total global annual revenues.

Under the new legislation, users must be informed as soon as they interact with chatbots or are exposed to media that appears real and is artificially generated, alongside the obligation to disclose texts relating to matters of public interest that are not subject to human review. Excluded from these rules are artistic works, satirical works, fictional content, and what users produce for personal purposes.

Existing systems are granted a four-month grace period to comply with the rules, whose code of practice has been joined by more than 180 organisations, with the Commission providing unified symbols that companies may use to classify content.

The European Union's technology commissioner, Henna Virkkunen, affirmed that artificial intelligence offers considerable benefits but carries unprecedented risks, pointing to the importance of this legal framework in ensuring trust, providing certainty for innovators, and protecting the public interest and the integrity of the European digital space. This comes at a time when some technology companies have expressed their concerns about an excessive expansion of the scope of content required to be labelled, despite their support for the idea of disclosing fake content.

Source: Emirates News Agency - WAM