New EU AI rules require labels, but artists still aren't asked or paid

EU rules requiring AI-generated content to carry a digital label took effect on 2 August 2026. Content created or manipulated using artificial intelligence, deepfakes included, now has to say so, and companies must publish an overview of their training material on their own website.

Jens Skov Thomsen, legal chief at Dansk Artist Forbund, says the rules stop well short of protecting artists: "Reglerne sikrer ikke, at du bliver spurgt, hvis din musik eller performance bruges til AI, eller at du bliver betalt for det." (The rules don't ensure you're asked if your music or performance is used for AI, or that you're paid for it.)

"Kunstnerne får ikke hverken indflydelse eller betaling med de nye regler," he adds (artists get neither influence nor payment with the new rules). Denmark hasn't yet named an authority to enforce the labelling requirement, so for now it exists with nobody checking compliance.

The gap Thomsen describes, disclosure without consent or pay, is the same complaint performing artists elsewhere have raised as AI tools spread into music, image and movement work.