AI email replies and Article 50: when an email needs an AI disclosure

Last reviewed 26 October 2026

Short answer. An AI that writes and sends email replies to customers by itself is interacting directly with them, so the replies need to say they come from an AI. An AI draft that a member of staff properly reviews and sends as their own reply is, on the Commission's reported reading, not direct interaction. Rule-based auto-responders (out-of-office, "we got your ticket") are not AI systems at all. The line is whether a person really acts as the sender, not whether a person could have stepped in.

Three kinds of automated email

Set-up	Article 50(1) disclosure?	Why
Out-of-office or fixed "we received your request" auto-reply	No	A rule-based template is not an AI system
AI reads the customer's email and sends a reply on its own	Yes	The AI system interacts directly with the customer
AI drafts, a member of staff reads, edits where needed and sends	Usually no, if the review is real	A person is the one communicating
AI drafts, staff click "send" on everything without reading	Likely yes	The review is a formality
Staff reply, with AI-written paragraphs dropped in unread	Likely yes for those parts	See the mixed-content point below

What "interact directly" means for email

Article 50(1) puts the duty on providers of AI systems "intended to interact directly with natural persons". The Commission's guidelines on Article 50 explain "directly". As summarised by Modulos (paragraph 30 of the guidelines approved on 20 July 2026), the interaction is usually in real time or near real time, and it is not direct where it goes through another person. Their examples are a person using AI to help write to someone else, and a person passing on AI output.

The same summary reports two limits on that:

Being able to intervene or review is not enough. A human who could step in but does not does not take the email outside Article 50.
Content that mixes AI and human writing is in scope unless the AI outputs were properly reviewed and sent by humans acting as the main interlocutors.

It also reports that traditional out-of-office emails and rule-based quick answers are not AI systems and so are outside Article 50.

The guidelines are non-binding, and the Commission said they apply once formally adopted in all language versions. Check the current text on the Commission's pages before relying on a paragraph number.

Auto-sent AI replies: what to write

Put the disclosure where it is read first. That is the top of the email body, not the footer:

"This reply was written by Brightline's AI assistant. If it doesn't answer your question, reply with 'person' and a member of our team will pick it up."

Article 50(5) asks for the information to be clear and distinguishable and given at the latest at the first interaction. For an email thread, the first AI-sent reply is the first interaction. Repeat the line in every AI-sent reply, because emails get forwarded and read out of order.

Other points:

Sender name. A sender name like "Emma from Brightline" on an AI-sent reply works against the disclosure. Use "Brightline Support (AI assistant)" or similar. The Commission reads the "obvious from the context" exception narrowly, so a human-sounding signature makes it less likely to apply, not more.
Subject line. Optional. "[AI reply]" is acceptable but may hurt open rates. The body line is what counts.
Language. Write the disclosure in the language of the reply.

AI drafts that staff send

If staff send AI drafts as their own replies, the safe course is to make the review real and be able to show it:

staff read the whole draft and the customer's original email before sending
they correct facts, tone and promises (refunds, delivery dates) rather than sending as is
the helpdesk shows who sent each reply and whether it was edited
volume targets leave time to read, since 200 approvals an hour is not review

If you can't meet that, treat the replies as AI-sent and add the disclosure. It is one line, and customers rarely mind it.

Outbound sales and marketing email

The same test applies to AI-written sales sequences. An AI agent that writes and sends follow-ups to prospects on its own is interacting directly with them, and the follow-ups need the disclosure. Templates a person wrote once (with or without AI help) and a tool sends to a list are a person's message. Separately, ePrivacy rules on unsolicited email and the GDPR apply to the list whatever wrote the email.

A check for email workflows

[ ] List every automated email flow: rule-based, AI-sent, or AI-drafted and human-sent.
[ ] AI-sent replies open with a one-line AI disclosure and how to reach a person.
[ ] Sender name on AI-sent replies does not suggest a person.
[ ] Human-sent AI drafts: review is real and recorded in the helpdesk.
[ ] Outbound AI agents that send on their own carry the disclosure.
[ ] Privacy notice covers AI processing of incoming emails.

Sources

Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act) on EUR-Lex: Article 3(1) and Article 50(1) and (5).
Article 50 text at artificialintelligenceact.eu.
Modulos: summary of the Commission's Article 50 guidelines, reported, for paragraph 30 on "directly", human review and auto-responders.
William Fry: Articles 50(1) and 50(2) transparency obligations, reported, for the narrow reading of the "obvious" exception.
European Commission: AI Act policy pages, for the guidelines themselves.