Guides · Article 50 · EU AI Act
What marketing agencies should know about Article 50
Agencies now routinely ship AI-generated visuals, voiceovers, video, and copy for clients. Two parts of Article 50 of the EU AI Act are most relevant to that work: the provider-side content-marking duty in 50(2) and the deployer-side deepfake disclosure in 50(4). This guide gives a general overview for agency teams. It is informational only, not legal advice, and does not determine whether the Act applies to your work.
Which agency work Article 50 tends to touch
- AI-generated campaign visuals, voiceovers, or video that could pass for real — the deepfake disclosure duty in Article 50(4) may be in view for whoever deploys the system.
- Evidently creative or satirical AI content — Article 50(4) narrows the duty to disclosing the existence of the generated content in a manner that does not hamper the work.
- Building or offering an AI generation tool (rather than just using one) — the provider-side machine-readable marking duty in Article 50(2) may apply.
- AI chat experiences built for clients' customers — Article 50(1)'s interaction disclosure may be in play.
Agency or client — whose duty is it?
Article 50 assigns the deepfake disclosure to deployers and the marking duty to providers, and in agency work the roles can land in unexpected places: an agency using a third-party generator under its own authority may be a deployer, while the client publishing the asset has its own position to assess. Who holds which role for a given campaign is fact-specific and often worth addressing in contracts — confirm the role mapping with qualified counsel rather than assuming it follows the invoice.
What agency teams commonly document
A campaign-level inventory works well: which assets are AI-generated or AI-manipulated, which Article 50 paragraph each might engage, who the provider and deployer are for each tool, and what disclosure or marking accompanies each deliverable — including how it meets the timing and accessibility points in Article 50(5). One scope note: Article 50 covers only the transparency slice of the EU AI Act; depending on the systems involved, other parts of the Act may also apply to you or your clients. Confirm the full picture with qualified counsel.
Common questions
Does an AI-generated ad image need a label?
It depends on the facts. Article 50(4) addresses deepfake image, audio, and video — content that could pass for real — with a narrower duty for evidently artistic or creative work, and Article 50(2) puts a machine-readable marking duty on providers of the generating system. Which applies to a given ad is fact-specific; confirm 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.