You may have seen the headlines. But then maybe you haven’t because this is quite low key and we’ve left the EU, right?
Well, the EU AI Act is live, there are eye-watering fines attached, and if you use AI anywhere near your website you are, supposedly, just one false move away from receiving a regulator’s letter.
That alone makes for captivating captions but, let’s be honest, it‘s not really how it works is it? So let me walk you through what actually changed, and what you sensibly need to do about it.
What actually happened
The relevant part of the EU AI Act for your website is a set of transparency rules that started to apply on the 2nd August 2026, a Sunday, yes. The key word here is transparency. It’s not an outright ban on using AI to write copy or make images, that genie is not going back in the bottle, but rather a rule about being honest when content is artificially generated, and more to the point, in specific situations. The legislation doesn’t say “any website with EU visitors must comply or be fined.” – It applies to particular kinds of AI content, and it comes with sensible exemptions.
I hear you asking about the bit about the legislation being EU and the UK is out. Well, if you have EU customers or meaningful EU traffic and you use AI to help produce content, it is worth understanding two situations where a disclosure duty can apply.
Particular kinds of content I: Images and video
If you use AI to generate image, audio or video content that could pass as real, so-called “deep fake”-style media, you must disclose that it is artificially generated. That in itself is straightforward and fair. If a picture on your website could be mistaken for a genuine photograph of a real person, place or event and it was made or altered by AI, then you have to say so.
Otherwise, if the image or video is clearly stylised, obviously artificial or plainly creative work, it is treated differently, so a fantastical illustration is not the same as a fake photo of your premises.
Particular kinds of content II: Text
By comparison, the EU AI Act’s text rule is much narrower than any headlines might suggest. It actually covers AI-generated text published to inform the public on matters of public interest. Think news and public-information content, not the “why choose us” internal copy or a product description.
What do they mean by public interest content and how does that affect YMYL copy? YMYL is “Your Money or Your Life” and generally covers finance, health, legal, and safety content. It can be part of public information, so you need to be doubly careful.
However, there is an exemption that most organisations can rely on; Where AI-assisted text has had human review, and a person or company holds editorial responsibility for it, the disclosure duty falls away. In plain terms: if a human reads it, edits it and owns it, then you’re fine.
And that’s the reason why most ordinary marketing copy is not caught. It is not public-interest content in the sense the Act means, and even where it comes close, human editing with clear editorial ownership takes it out of scope.
One thing that is not your job
There is a separate rule about AI tools embedding a hidden, machine-readable marker in their output. That duty sits with the companies that build the AI tools, not with you as the business using them, and for existing tools it has been pushed back to December 2026. So you can set that one aside.
What to actually do
Here’s a sensible, “don’t panic” checklist:
- Make a note of where you use AI on your website, for both text and images,
- Label any AI-generated image or video that could be mistaken for real,
- Make sure a human reviews and owns your AI-assisted copy, and keep a simple record of who signed it off,
- Add a plain disclosure anywhere it is genuinely warranted, and no further.
That’s pretty much it for most SMEs – Clean, honest, credible, and no drama.
How we can help
This is is something we can assist you with in your website – we review AI-assisted copy, edit it properly and put editorial ownership behind it, which is both the compliant route and the reason it reads like a person wrote it. If you would like a quick audit of where you stand, and the disclosures sorted where they are actually needed, get in touch.
This article is general information, not legal advice. The rules are still settling, so if your situation is unusual, check with a solicitor.