Made with AI: what your generator writes into an image, and the labels that follow it
Short answer
A generated image can carry up to four records: a signed content credential, an invisible watermark, metadata fields and the saved prompt. In our tests, files from Google and OpenAI carried a signed credential that records a watermark, and a Kling video carried a metadata tag. Most of these records are lost when a file is re-saved or shared.
Where to start
- What your AI image carries
The four records a file can hold, and what each one can prove.
- Your generator's pageChatGPT imagesGemini and Nano Banana
What one generator's files held when we tested them.
- Using your imagesSellingEdited with AIReal people
Selling, editing and real people: the rules that follow an image.
By generator
One page per generator: what a finished file carries, and how to read it.
- frame 02
▸ 02NF MAChatGPT imagesA signed OpenAI credential, no prompt, lost on re-save.Read the page - frame 03
▸ 03NF MAGemini and Nano BananaSynthID in the pixels and a signed Google credential.Read the page - frame 04
▸ 04NF MAStable Diffusion and FluxOpen-weight models: no signature, but your prompt in the file.Read the page - frame 05
▸ 05NF MAKling and video modelsAn AIGC metadata tag, lost on re-encode.Read the page
Using your images
For images that leave your machine: edits, sales, likeness and records.
- Edited with AIWhen generative fill touches a real photo, and how the label changes.
- Selling AI imagesWhat stock sites and shops ask you to declare.
- Real people in promptsLikeness, consent and platform rules.
- Keep a prompt logRecord each job so you can repeat it and show it.
- Open-weight modelsRunning models at home, and what they write.
- AI video generatorsPrompts and labels for moving images.
Questions
Can you tell if an image was made with AI from the file alone?
Sometimes. An original file may carry a signed content credential that names the generator, or a metadata label. Many shared copies have lost both, and a missing label does not mean an image is human-made.
What is a content credential?
A signed record inside the file, written to the open C2PA standard, that names who signed it and the steps they recorded, with a hash that shows whether the pixels changed after signing.
Do AI image generators add invisible watermarks?
Google and OpenAI say their images carry SynthID, a watermark in the pixels, and the credentials in our test files recorded a watermark step. Only the maker's detector can read it.
Does removing metadata remove every label?
No. Re-saving removed the credential from every file we tried, but an invisible watermark is part of the image and is designed to survive resizing and compression.
Do I have to label AI images when I share them?
It depends on where. YouTube, for example, requires creators to disclose realistic AI content and labels uploads that carry C2PA metadata automatically. Check each platform's own rules.