EU AI Act Article 50(1) — Informing natural persons that they are interacting with an AI system
AI systems intended to interact directly with people must be designed so that those people are informed they are interacting with an AI system, unless that is obvious to a reasonably well-informed observer
Where this comes from
Provision: Article 50(1) — Informing natural persons that they are interacting with an AI system
Instrument: EU Artificial Intelligence Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689)
Citation: Article 50(1), with Article 50(5), Regulation (EU) 2024/1689
Text version: Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), OJ L, 12.7.2024
Checked against the source: 2 September 2026
Who it applies to
AI system in scope of the Act (Art. 2) — all of these:
- Service deploys AI systems in a professional capacity
- AI transparency features includes People interact directly with the system
…unless:
- AI Act scope exclusion is used exclusively for military, defence or national-security purposes or developed and used solely for scientific research and development
- Art. 2(3): the Regulation 'does not apply to AI systems where and in so far as they are placed on the market, put into service, or used with or without modification exclusively for military, defence or national security purposes'. (AI Act Art. 2(3))
- Art. 2(6): the Regulation 'does not apply to AI systems or AI models, including their output, specifically developed and put into service for the sole purpose of scientific research and development'. (AI Act Art. 2(6))
- Each Art. 50 transparency duty is disapplied for AI systems authorised by law to detect, prevent, investigate or prosecute criminal offences, subject to appropriate safeguards for the rights and freedoms of third parties — except, for Art. (AI Act Art. 50(1), (2), (3) and (4))
- Art. 50(1) does not require disclosure where interacting with an AI system 'is obvious from the point of view of a natural person who is reasonably well-informed, observant and circumspect, taking into account the circumstances and the context of use'. (AI Act Art. 50(1))
Scope in the source's own terms
- Art. 2(1): the AI system is placed on the market or put into service in the Union, or the provider/deployer is established in the Union, or the output produced by the system is used in the Union
- Art. 16(a) ('Providers of high-risk AI systems shall …'), read with Art. 3(3): the actor develops the system or has it developed and places it on the market or puts it into service under its own name or trade mark — or is its authorised representative under Art. 22
- Art. 50(1): the triggering feature is an AI system 'intended to interact directly with natural persons' — a conversational assistant, chatbot or voice agent. No high-risk classification is needed
What engineering work it implies
- AI Transparency Notices (Chatbot, Emotion/Biometric, Synthetic Media)Covers it fully
The three Article 50 disclosures as shippable components: an AI-interaction notice, an emotion/biometric exposure notice, and synthetic-media labelling with a...
Sample acceptance criteria Landfall generates for this obligation:
- The disclosure appears at or before the first interaction on every surface where a person can talk to the system (Art. 50(5))
- The disclosure is clear and distinguishable, not a greyed footnote, and stays in the accessibility tree
- It survives entry points that skip onboarding (deep link, embedded widget, voice channel, resumed session)
- Where the "obvious" exception is relied on, the surface and the reasoning are recorded with a review date
- A route to a human is offered from the same surface
Evidence an auditor expects
- User-interface evidenceUser testing
Evidence of the AI-interaction disclosure as the user sees it
Screenshots or recordings of the first-contact disclosure in every entry point to the conversational surface (web, app, voice, embedded widget), showing the disclosure is presented at or before the first interaction and is not buried in terms. Art. 50(5) requires the information to be provided at the latest at the time of the first interaction or exposure, in a clear and distinguishable manner and in conformity with applicable accessibility requirements
- Technical controlTechnical audit
Design evidence that the disclosure is built into the system rather than added by the deployer
Code or configuration evidence that the disclosure ships with the system — Art. 50(1) places the duty on the PROVIDER to design and develop the system so that persons are informed
Questions people ask
- Does EU AI Act Article 50(1) — Informing natural persons that they are interacting… apply to my service?
- It applies when Service deploys AI systems in a professional capacity; AI transparency features includes People interact directly with the system. It does not apply where AI Act scope exclusion is used exclusively for military, defence or national-security purposes or developed and used solely for scientific research and development.
- When does this become enforceable?
- EU AI Act Article 50(1) — Informing natural persons that they are interacting… is enforceable from 2 August 2026. Its current status is: in force.
- What evidence does an auditor expect?
- Evidence of the AI-interaction disclosure as the user sees it; Design evidence that the disclosure is built into the system rather than added by the deployer.
Find out whether this one lands on you
Landfall's pre-scan answers the applicability question above for your product in minutes, then turns every obligation that applies into traceable engineering tickets with a citation chain your auditors can follow.
Not legal advice. Landfall maps regulatory obligations to engineering work for planning purposes. Its verdicts are not legal advice and create no attorney-client relationship — verify with qualified counsel before relying on them.