Telling People They Are Talking to a Machine: Chatbot Disclosure Rules

Chatbot disclosure under Article 50 means informing a person that they are interacting with an artificial intelligence system and not a human agent. The rule applies to any automated conversational system that responds to natural language input, whether the chatbot claims to be an AI or not, whether it displays realistic or simple text responses, and regardless of whether it is hosted by the company or accessed through a third-party platform. The transparency requirement is absolute; there is no exemption for chatbots that are “simple” or “obviously AI”.

A chatbot disclosure must be clear and easily perceptible. This is not satisfied by hiding the disclosure in terms of service, in footer links, or in a checkbox that a user must tick to acknowledge they understand. A person accessing a customer service chatbot should know immediately that they are talking to a machine without having to search for that information. In practice, this means a persistent notice in or near the chat window, a clear label on the entry point, or a message displayed before the conversation begins.

Disclosure format and placement

The law does not prescribe a single format. Some organisations use a simple banner in the chat interface: “You are chatting with an AI assistant”. Others use a message before the conversation begins: “This conversation is with an AI system. It may make mistakes. Human agents are available through this link”. The format can be tailored to the user experience provided that it is immediate and clear. The critical test is whether an ordinary person would immediately and unambiguously understand that a machine, not a human, is responding to their messages.

Placement matters. Disclosure in a help icon, hidden under an “About” tab, or written in small print alongside other policies is not compliant. The disclosure should be in the primary interaction zone where the person is actively engaging with the chatbot. If the chatbot is accessed through a mobile app, the disclosure must be equally visible on the mobile interface. If the chatbot appears in multiple channels (website, SMS, social media), disclosure must appear in each channel, adapted to the constraints of each medium.

Timing of disclosure

A person must know they are talking to a machine before they start typing or as the first thing they see when opening the chat interface. Waiting until the first response to display the disclosure is too late; by then the person may already have committed to the conversation or formed an expectation of human interaction. Conversely, a person who has completed one conversation with a disclosed chatbot should still see the disclosure if they open a new conversation, rather than assuming prior disclosure carries forward.

Hybrid systems and escalation to humans

Many organisations operate hybrid systems where an AI chatbot handles routine queries and escalates complex issues to a human agent. The disclosure must be clear about this flow. If the person starts with a chatbot but will be transferred to a human without additional confirmation, the initial disclosure should mention that escalation is possible and that a human agent will be introduced by name or title when the escalation occurs. The moment a human agent takes over the conversation, the AI disclosure is satisfied for the prior portion; the human does not need to repeat “you were talking to an AI” as if the person had not been informed.

Proactive chatbots

Chatbots that initiate contact, such as SMS notifications that trigger a conversation or notifications in messaging apps, must disclose their nature in the first message. If a bank’s fraud prevention system sends a message like “Unusual activity detected. Reply to confirm”, the person must be told immediately in that same message or in the very next message that they are speaking to a system, not a fraud team member who will be reading their reply.

Testing and user research

Organisations deploying chatbots should test whether users actually perceive and understand the disclosure. A test where 90 percent of users notice the disclosure and understand they are talking to a machine shows compliance; a test where 10 percent of users fail to notice, or notice but believe the bot is still operated by a human, indicates the disclosure format or placement needs revision. Regulatory guidance suggests that user comprehension, not just the presence of a label, is the true test of compliance.