Guides · Article 50 · EU AI Act
AI design tools and the EU AI Act
AI features now sit throughout design tools — generating images, extending backgrounds, removing or inserting objects, and producing whole layouts. Two EU AI Act paragraphs can bear on that output: Article 50(2), the provider-side marking of synthetic images, and Article 50(4), the deployer-side deepfake disclosure where a design depicts a real person convincingly. This guide explains both, and the editing carve-out, from the regulation text. It is informational only, not legal advice, and does not name any tool category as in or out of scope.
Generated imagery — Article 50(2) and its editing carve-out
Article 50(2) asks providers of AI systems generating synthetic audio, image, video or text to ensure outputs are marked in a machine-readable format and detectable as artificially generated or manipulated. As written, this duty sits on the provider of the generative system, not automatically on every designer who exports a file. The paragraph also carves out systems to the extent they perform an assistive function for standard editing or do not substantially alter the input data or its semantics — language that can matter to retouching and light edits, as distinct from generating a new image from a prompt. Whether a given feature falls inside 50(2) or a carve-out is fact-specific.
Designs depicting real people — Article 50(4)
Where a design constitutes a deep fake — for example a photorealistic composite of an identifiable person — Article 50(4) is written on the deployer of the system to disclose that the content has been artificially generated or manipulated. A stylised illustration or an invented character sits differently from a synthetic likeness of a real individual. Where the content forms part of an evidently artistic, creative, satirical, fictional or analogous work, the obligation is limited to disclosing the existence of generated content in a manner that does not hamper enjoyment of the work. Whether your output is a 'deep fake' and whether a carve-out applies are fact-specific.
Common questions
Do AI design tools have to label generated graphics?
The machine-readable marking duty in Article 50(2) is written on the provider of the generative feature, subject to an assistive-editing carve-out, and the deepfake disclosure in 50(4) is written on the deployer where a design depicts a real person convincingly. Which applies, if either, is fact-specific — verify with qualified counsel.
See what may apply to your business
Answer seven quick questions for an automated, informational indication of which Article 50 obligations appear likely to apply — free, and not legal advice.