Law explained

AI-generated images on your website: what the law wants from you

You made product visuals with an image generator, or edited photos with generative fill. What now?

Layer 1 — machine-readable marking (Art. 50(2))

Your image tool’s provider must ensure outputs carry machine-readable marks (metadata/watermark) — a duty that applies since 2 August 2026, with a transitional period until 2 December 2026 for tools already on the market before that date (2026 AI Omnibus). Your part: use tools that mark, and preserve metadata when exporting/uploading (many CMS strip EXIF — our Kit shows what to check per platform).

Layer 2 — visible label when it depicts something real (Art. 50(4))

An AI image of your actual shop, a real person, a real street, a real event — that “appreciably resembles” reality and could be taken as authentic — must be visibly disclosed as AI-generated. This duty is yours, the deployer’s. A fantasy illustration or an obviously abstract graphic? No visible-label duty (mark-and-move-on under layer 1).

Grey zone, honestly flagged

A photorealistic AI image of a generic product-in-kitchen scene depicts no real person/place/event — a strict deepfake reading says 50(4) doesn’t apply. But consumer-protection law separately prohibits misleading commercial practices: if the image implies “this is a real photo of the real product” and it isn’t, you have a problem older than the AI Act. Our stance in the Kit: when in doubt, a small “AI-generated image” caption costs you nothing and reads as confidence, not confession.

Practical labels that don’t ruin design

Corner badge, caption line, or alt-text + caption combo — copy-paste snippets in the Kit.

Sources are cited in place; official text: Regulation (EU) 2024/1689. This guide is a technical explanation, not legal advice.