EU AI Act Article 50 applied from August 2, 2026 and requires deployers to disclose deepfakes, chatbots, and AI-written public-interest text.
California SB 942 binds only generative AI providers with over one million monthly users, covers image, video and audio but not text, and fines $5,000 per violation per day.
Machine-readable watermarking is a provider duty; systems on the EU market before August 2, 2026 have until December 2, 2026 to comply with Article 50(2).