EU AI Act: Watermarks Incoming!

If you’re using AI to write your content or create your imagery, but want people to think it was all your work, Article 50(2) of the EU AI Act is going to be putting a stop to that.

Since August 2nd, Generative AI platforms that have signed up to the code of practice will now watermark anything created on their platform. To be clear, this isn’t an annoying logo overlay on top of an image, but a digital watermark embedded as metadata in the output.

For any Generative AI systems currently on the market, they have a grace period running until December 2nd, 2026, but with the likes of Claude already implementing this change and actively publicising it, others will no doubt follow quickly. Other platforms could, however, be more discreet in how they roll this out, so keep your eyes peeled.

Claude is going a step further and has promised to release additional details on its detection mechanisms in future documentation. This means the general public will have the tools not only to see that content is AI-generated, but to pinpoint exactly which AI platform it came from.

The wording of the act is clear in its aim of ownership and accountability:

Providers of AI systems (including general-purpose AI systems) that generate synthetic audio, image, video, or text must ensure that outputs are both marked in a machine-readable format and detectable as AI-generated. This is a technical obligation aimed at provenance: enabling detection tools to verify whether content is AI-generated.

https://artificialintelligenceact.eu/transparency-rules-article-50/

This won’t impact you if you use AI as an assistive tool for grammar correction or suggested text, but if you use AI to do the heavy lifting, then, sorry to say, claiming it as your own won’t cut it anymore.

The team at Fishtank believes this is a positive step and will encourage people to use Generative AI as intended, moving back to it being an assistive tool rather than something that replaces human creativity.

Although we all love a bit of AI, you can never replace a person’s innovation. Our content writers remain passionate about crafting engaging content that stands out and drives real results.

For businesses that want unique copy that speaks their language and tells the right story, investing in a talented marketing agency has never been more important. We’d love to support you on your content journey; get in touch with us at digital@fishtankagency.com and speak to one of our experts today!