10/08/2026
There's a rule now that says your chatbot has to admit it's a chatbot.
Since 2 August 2026, Article 50 of the EU AI Act requires that any AI system talking directly to people discloses that fact, clearly, from the first interaction. Not buried in a privacy policy. Not implied. Stated.
Most SME chatbots were built to sound as human as possible. That was the whole point. Now the same design choice that made the bot feel helpful is the thing that puts a business on the wrong side of a rule that's already in force, not coming later this year.
The fix itself is small. Finding out you need it usually isn't.
If your chatbot doesn't say it's AI in its first message, that's not a future problem. It's a today problem.