Europe's AI transparency rules arrived on schedule on August 2, and almost nothing a normal person would notice arrived with them.
- Machine-readable marking gets a grace period to December 2, 2026 for generative products already on the market.
- Checking a file across providers is a voluntary promise dated February 2, 2027.
- Google made Gemini's visible watermark optional on August 14, with no EU country among the places where switching it off needs a paid Ultra plan. No breach: the visible label is the publisher's duty, never the tool's, and the invisible SynthID mark stays on every file, Google says.
- The Commission's published list of national enforcers names 8 of 27 and was last updated in September 2025.
You can complain about the big chatbots straight to the AI Office, in any EU language.
