Almost always, yes — and since 2 August 2026. Strictly, Article 50(1) binds the provider — whoever built the bot and put it on the market. If you bought an off-the-shelf widget, that is your vendor, not you; you are the provider only if you had the system built and released it under your own name. Either way, you have every commercial reason to check your customers are actually being told.
Article 50 of the EU AI Act requires that people interacting with an AI system are told they’re dealing with AI. The only get-out is where it’s genuinely obvious to a reasonably well-informed, observant and circumspect person. The Commission’s Guidelines on Article 50 (adopted 20 July 2026) say that exception “should be interpreted in a restrictive manner, given that it deprives people of transparency”, and measure it against an average person who is reasonably well-informed, observant and circumspect. It covers website chat widgets, WhatsApp bots, and AI voice or phone agents alike.
It must be in the interaction itself, at or before the first message — not buried in your terms and conditions or privacy policy. A vague label like “Assistant” isn’t enough on its own.
A short, plain line does the job: “Hi, I’m an AI assistant. I can help with most things, and I’ll pass you to a human any time.” For voice, an audible opener — “You’re speaking with an AI assistant.” A visible “AI” badge alongside that first-message notice is a common way of doing it; neither form is prescribed by the Regulation, which asks only that the information be clear and distinguishable.
One real limit is worth knowing. The Act only bites on an AI system, and that means something that infers — it works things out rather than following a script. A pure menu tree, where a person wrote every answer and the bot only matches buttons, is arguably outside the Regulation altogether (Article 3(1) and Recital 12). But the moment it reads free text or writes its own replies, you are firmly back inside. Almost every modern widget is, so this is a narrow door, not an escape route.
If you use a third-party bot (Intercom, a plugin, and so on), don’t assume the vendor switched the disclosure on. What matters is that your users are actually told — so check it’s showing.
Breaches of Article 50 can draw fines of up to €15 million or 3% of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher. For SMEs and start-ups the cap is the lower of the two (Art 99(6)).
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