On 2 August 2026, the European Commission's AI Act transparency rules took effect. Providers and deployers must clearly label deepfake-style images, audio, and video, emotion recognition and biometric categorisation tools, and public-interest text published without human editorial review. Users must also be told when they are chatting with an AI system rather than a person. Enforcers can fine companies up to 15 million euros or 3 percent of global turnover. Caveat: separate high-risk product duties remain deferred, so this wave is about disclosure more than full lifecycle controls.