SenseDefend

Synthetic-media instruments, by article and effective date

Article 50(1): systems people talk to

Article 50(1) binds providers: a system meant to interact with people has to be built so that the person is informed they are dealing with an AI system, unless that is obvious to a reasonably well-informed person in the circumstances. As of 2026-09-12.

Where paragraph 1 places its duty, and where it releases itThe duty is on the provider and lands at design time: a system meant to interact with people has to be built so that the person is informed they are dealing with an AI system. It is released where that fact is obvious to a reasonably well-informed person in the circumstances, which is a test nobody can settle in advance.A system meant to interact with peopleThe usual caseBuild the notice inThe duty is on the provider, at design time.Where it is obviousReleasedJudged against a reasonably well-informedperson in the circumstances.Design time, not delivery time
Fig. 1 Building it in is the duty; obviousness is the release. The second is decided by circumstances rather than by anything in the product.
Article 50(1) on the four points this record keeps for every paragraph. Recorded 2026-09-12.
PointWhat the paragraph states
Who it bindsProviders
What it asks forDesign that informs the person they are interacting with an AI system
Carve-outWhere it is obvious to a reasonably well-informed, observant person
WhenFrom 2 August 2026

Inclusion rule. One page per numbered paragraph of Article 50, with the same four points on each. A point the paragraph does not address is recorded as not addressed rather than filled from a recital or a summary. Order. Fixed point order, identical on every paragraph page.

1The duty lands at design time, not at delivery

The wording puts the obligation on how a system is designed and developed, which places it before anyone starts using the thing. That is what separates this paragraph from most of the rest of Article 50: it is not about a notice attached to an output, it is about a property the system carries.

For anyone building on a generation tool rather than making one, the practical reading is that this paragraph is largely someone else's. A production company using a video generator is not designing a system that talks to people. A company shipping an assistant that answers customers is.

2What makes something obvious is left to circumstances

The carve-out is written around a reasonably well-informed, observant and circumspect person, taking the circumstances and the context of use into account. That is a standard, not a list, and it moves with the setting: an avatar on a bank's support page and the same avatar in an art installation are not obviously the same case.

This record does not attempt to say where the line falls in any particular deployment. It records the standard as the text states it, and notes that the paragraph offers no examples of its own to work from.

  • Article 50(1)
    Providers must design systems so people are told they are dealing with an AI systemunless it is obvious in contextAI Act Explorer, Article 50 / recorded 2026-09-12
  • Article 50(5)
    The information must be given clearly and distinguishably at the latest at the first interaction or exposureand must meet accessibility requirementsAI Act Explorer, Article 50 / recorded 2026-09-12

3Sources

Wording read from AI Act Explorer, Article 50 on 2026-09-12. The whole article in one place is on the Article 50 page; who each duty binds is on duties by role. Next to it: Article 50(2).