Do I need to disclose AI chatbots and AI-generated content?

In most cases, yes. The EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) imposes transparency obligations in Article 50 that can apply to ordinary online shops, even though most shops are not running “high-risk” AI. Three duties are worth knowing.

Tell users they are talking to AI

If your store uses a support chatbot or AI assistant, users must be informed that they are interacting with an AI system — unless it is already obvious. A clear line such as “You’re chatting with our AI assistant” meets the requirement and keeps customers from being misled about who — or what — they are dealing with.

Disclose AI-generated media

AI-generated or manipulated image, audio or video content (“deep fakes”) must be disclosed as artificially generated or manipulated. The same applies to AI-generated text published to inform the public on matters of public interest. For shops, this most often applies to AI-generated product imagery or synthetic media that a customer would reasonably take to be a genuine photograph.

Machine-readable marking

Providers of AI systems that generate synthetic content must mark the output in a machine-readable way so it can be detected as artificially generated. If you generate content yourself, preserve those markings; if you use a third-party tool, prefer one that applies them.

Practical takeaways

• Label your chatbot as AI.
• Disclose AI-generated images or media that could pass for real.
• Keep machine-readable markers on synthetic content.
• Remember consumer-protection rules against misleading practices apply as well.

Purely AI-assisted copywriting that you review and publish as ordinary product descriptions is a lighter case than synthetic media, but transparency and honesty remain the guiding principles. See the AI Act hub for the full timeline and detail.