The first-ever legal framework on AI

Days after the launch of the first-ever legal framework on AI, it’s on product designers to shoulder the integration of AI trust signals.

New EU AI Act transparency requirements came into effect on the 2nd of August, meaning some products must now make it clearer when users are interacting with AI or viewing AI-generated content.

This turns compliance into a UX challenge, because simply adding a label or warning is not enough. Transparency can no longer be left solely in policies and legal documentation. It affects onboarding, conversational interfaces, content labels, decision explanations, and escalation journeys.

Basically this is a UX challenge.

It’s not about adding an “AI-generated” badge. It’s about designing transparency that appears at the right moment. Compliance delivered through intrusive warnings may technically inform people while making the product harder to use.

I think the best approach will be to make transparency contextual. Show the right information at the point it becomes relevant, in language people can understand, with a clear route to act when something feels wrong. This is a reminder that trust is not created by a badge or a paragraph in the terms and conditions. It is created through the experience itself.

It’s something we should be doing regardless of legislation. But now there’s a legal goalpost, I’ll be interested to see how product design evolves.