Blog

On August 2, Article 50 of the new AI Act will take full effect. Right now, as a small startup, you can produce content of exactly the same quality as a multibillion-dollar corporation. Thanks to AI, marketing your business is now 1,000 times cheaper than it used to be. But only until August 2.

After that date, EU legislation requires that photorealistic, AI-generated media carry a visible “AI-generated” label, for example, in the form of a “Made with AI” badge.

We are currently witnessing a cost revolution in marketing. High-quality images, text, promotional videos, product visualizations, and entire campaigns can now be created in minutes. Things that used to cost thousands or tens of thousands of euros are suddenly accessible to small businesses, freelancers, and startups. For the first time, a small business can produce advertising that no longer automatically looks cheap. For the first time, a startup with a limited budget can present itself visually on par with large corporations.
And this is exactly where the EU is stepping in with regulations, putting an end to the euphoria.

Imagine you want a new hero image of your office building for your website.
Do you have to book a photographer? Wait for perfect weather? Catch the perfect time of day? No. Today, this can be solved with AI. Perfect lighting, perfect angle, perfect mood. A result that looks like an expensive photo shoot. Responsible agencies have now stopped charging clients for images that were created in seconds using AI. But now imagine if this image had to carry a visible “AI-generated” label.
Would you still use it? Probably not. And not because the image is bad or inferior in any way. But because the label itself sends a signal: cheap.

A simple example shows how absurd this regulation is: If you want to sell your used car and spend three hours in Photoshop to spruce up the photo, you don’t need a disclaimer. But if you do the same thing in two seconds using AI, the label suddenly becomes mandatory.

The law punishes the tool, not the intent.

A commercial in which a dirty T-shirt, using old-fashioned editing techniques, magically comes out of the washing machine white again in two seconds? Totally fine. But if you implement the same concept using AI, you suddenly need a label to explain: “This isn’t real.”

Of course, there are real problems with AI. Fraud. Fake shops. Political manipulation. No one disputes that. But the crucial question is: Does a visible “AI generated” label solve these problems?

Will a criminal who builds a fake website featuring nonexistent products dutifully add an AI label to their images? Of course not.
Those who want to cheat will ignore the rules. Those who want to operate legally will pay the price.

For large companies, this is annoying but manageable. They continue to book studios and retouchers. They have budgets, legal departments, and compliance processes.
For small businesses, it’s a different story. For them, AI isn’t a toy—it’s a lever. It makes startups more affordable and competition fairer. And it is precisely this leverage that is now being restricted.

The outcome is predictable.

Europe will thus become the last market where the old art of “Photoshopping” is still passed down like a family craft from father to son. While the rest of the world cuts marketing costs, increases speed, and tests campaigns in real time, content creation in the EU will remain more expensive than necessary. Startups will get off to a slower start. Small businesses will prefer to do without better images rather than put an AI label on their website. Any regulation that increases fixed costs only helps the companies that can easily bear them. It doesn’t protect the small players; it protects the established ones.

The tragedy is that a better solution is right there in plain sight.

What should be the deciding factor is not the tool, but responsibility for the content. Just as with text. The proposed regulation stipulates that AI-generated text that has been reviewed, edited, and approved by a human is not considered an uncontrolled machine-generated statement and does not require a badge or label. Why shouldn’t the same principle apply to images?
If a company reviews, deliberately selects, and takes responsibility for an AI-generated image, then it is responsible for the message. Just like with a photo. Just like with any other form of commercial communication.

Europe is constantly talking about innovation, digitalization, and competitiveness. But as soon as a technology actually helps small businesses compete with the big players in a faster and more cost-effective way, a set of rules comes along that reduces precisely this advantage.
Not on purpose.
That’s why it makes sense to address the issue.

Long story short: If you’re launching a startup, building a website, or want to establish your brand professionally, do it before August 2. Take advantage of the window where AI marketing still offers the full cost advantage.