Does the EU AI disclosure duty apply to small websites and sole traders?

Short answer

Yes. Article 50 attaches to the role you play with an AI system and to what that system does — not to your revenue, headcount or legal form. There is no small-website exemption in it.

Why that is

The article speaks to providers and to deployers of AI systems. Both words describe a role, not a company size. The AI Act does contain easements for small and medium enterprises elsewhere, but not for the transparency duties in Article 50. So a sole trader running an AI chat widget faces exactly the disclosure question a large company running the same widget faces. The workload differs; the duty does not — and the disclosure itself is one sentence in the bot's opening message.

What this means in practice

Stop asking whether you are big enough to be in scope and start looking at what actually runs on your pages: is a chat or dialogue widget embedded, and does its first message make clear that an AI is answering? Are AI-generated images published anywhere? For a small site those two questions settle nearly everything else.

Check it on your own page

The free check answers both of them for the page you submit. It detects embedded chat widgets, reads the visible text after opening the chat window, and inspects the embedded images for origin metadata. It shows you what an outside reviewer can see; it is not a review of your particular situation.

Related questions

• My chatbot only answers fixed FAQs — do I still need an AI notice?
• My company is not in the EU — does Article 50 apply to me?
• What has applied since 2 August 2026 — and for whom is 2 December 2026 a transition deadline?