Published on August 11, 2026 · The mitza.es team
Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, known as the AI Act, applies directly in Spain without needing a national law to transpose it. It comes into force in stages: the bans and AI literacy requirements have applied since February 2025, and since August 2, 2026 the transparency obligations under Article 50 are enforceable — the part that most directly affects any business with its own website.
What Article 50 actually requires
The rule doesn't require labelling any content that an AI tool simply helped with, but it does set out three specific obligations. Chatbots and virtual assistants must clearly identify themselves as AI systems to users. Images, videos and audio generated entirely by AI must be marked in a machine-readable format. And text of public interest generated by AI without human oversight or editorial control must also be identified as such.
Who enforces compliance in Spain
The Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence (AESIA), based in A Coruña and operational since February 2025, acts as the point of contact with the European Commission and has its own sanctioning powers. Fines for breaching transparency obligations can reach up to €15 million or 3% of global annual turnover, although in practice the real risk for an SME lies more in reputation than in an immediate fine.
What to review in practice if you have a website
- If your website has a chatbot or support assistant, it must be clear to the user that they're talking to an AI.
- If you use AI-generated images or videos in marketing, check whether they need labelling depending on the context of use.
- If you publish AI-generated articles without real editorial review, this is exactly the scenario the rule is designed to catch.
- If you already combine AI with human oversight in your content, your exposure is much lower.
Not a reason to stop using AI, but to use it with judgment
Much like the debate Sam Altman raised about slowing down AI development, this rule doesn't mean giving up on these tools. At Mitza we combine AI with real editorial review in our content generation service, precisely so the final result has real human judgment behind it. If you're not sure whether your website needs any adjustments, a technical audit will make it clear quickly.