EU AI icon licence: free, no attribution, not proof of compliance
The Commission's EU AI icons are free with no attribution, but using one does not prove compliance, and a non-signatory using one does not signal adherence.
The Commission's EU Icons for labelling AI-generated content page says the icons are "made publicly available for everyone to use freely, without the need for attribution to the Commission or the AI Office." It also says that using them does not establish legal compliance by itself, and that a non-signatory using the icon should not be read as signalling adherence to the Code of Practice. This reports the page and is not legal advice.
Do I need to credit the Commission?
No. The licence paragraph says no attribution is needed. Signatories of the code are held to something extra: they "should use the icon in accordance with its placement specifications" from Section 2 of the code.
Does using the icon make my video compliant?
No. The page says "The use of these EU icons is optional, but the labelling requirements under Article 50 AI Act are not," and that deployers remain responsible for ensuring that any disclosure meets Article 50. The icon helps people recognise AI-generated or manipulated content. Whether a particular clip needs a label at all depends on whether it is a deepfake under the Article 50(4) tests, or published text on a matter of public interest.
The page also says the icons have 4 variations, black, white, black with 50% transparency, and white with 50% transparency, and that user testing improved performance on all measures when the basic icon came with a text label.
What if I use the icon but have not signed the code?
The page says use by non-signatories should not be construed as signalling adherence to the code. So putting the icon on a video is not a claim that you follow the code, and you should not describe it that way.
| Topic | What the page says |
|---|---|
| Cost and credit | Free to use, no attribution to the Commission or AI Office |
| Status | Optional; Article 50 labelling requirements are not |
| Compliance | Use does not establish compliance by itself |
| Non-signatories | Use must not be read as adherence to the code |
| Signatories | Should follow the code's placement specifications |
How would I put the icon on an AI video made through Sume?
Sume's docs describe Video captions as burning captions onto a public HTTPS video URL. Text you author yourself can go on through cues or segments, which skip speech-to-text. The docs do not mention the EU icon, so check the delivered file against the page's placement rules rather than assuming a caption style satisfies them.
Sources
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