AI-generated content labeling
In plain wordsMarking text, images, audio or video as made by AI — with a visible notice, hidden data in the file, or both — so that people and platforms can tell synthetic content from real.
The practice, and increasingly the legal duty, of marking content generated or substantially altered by AI so that people and software can recognize it. Labels are explicit (visible captions, logos or spoken notices) or implicit (machine-readable metadata, invisible watermarksAI watermarking, n.: Hiding an invisible signal in AI-generated text, images, audio or video so that software can later tell the content was made by AI — like a banknote's watermark, but undetectable to the eye. or cryptographically signed provenance records such as Content CredentialsContent Credentials, prop. n.: A tamper-evident 'nutrition label' attached to a photo, video or document recording where it came from — which camera or AI tool made it and how it was edited — that anyone can inspect.). China's Measures for Labeling AI-Generated Synthetic Content and a mandatory national standard, in force since September 1, 2025, require explicit labels on chatbot dialogue, synthetic voices, generated faces and immersive scenes, implicit labels in the metadata of all generated files, and detection and labeling by distribution platforms. The EU AI ActEU AI Act, prop. n.: The European Union's law on artificial intelligence, the first broad AI law anywhere: it bans some uses, sets strict checks for risky ones and puts duties on the makers of the biggest AI models. requires providers of generative systems to mark outputs in machine-readable form and deployers to disclose deepfakesdeepfake, n.: A fake but realistic video, photo or voice recording made with AI that puts words in a real person's mouth or shows them in a scene that never happened., with application from August 2026 subject to Digital OmnibusDigital Omnibus, prop. n.: A European Union package, proposed in 2025, that simplified and delayed parts of its digital rules — above all pushing back the strictest requirements of the EU AI Act by more than a year. adjustments; California's AI Transparency Act requires large generative AI providers to embed latent disclosures and offer free detection tools; and South Korea's AI Basic ActAI Basic Act, prop. n.: South Korea's main AI law, in force since January 2026, which sets safety and transparency duties for AI used in sensitive areas and for AI-generated content. requires notice of generative outputs. Weaknesses include easily stripped metadata, fragile watermarks, false positives and uneven adoption.
The platform's AI-generated content labeling relies on metadata, which disappears the moment someone screenshots the image.
Origin
Platform policies on labeling synthetic media date from about 2019–2020. China's deep-synthesis rules (2022) imposed the first binding labeling duty, followed by the EU AI Act (2024) and China's dedicated labeling measures, issued in March 2025 by the Cyberspace Administration of China and three other agencies.
Usage note
A label indicates origin, not truth: AI-made content is not necessarily false, and unlabeled content is not necessarily authentic. Official texts in British English spell it labelling.
Related
- AI watermarkingAI watermarking, n.: Hiding an invisible signal in AI-generated text, images, audio or video so that software can later tell the content was made by AI — like a banknote's watermark, but undetectable to the eye.
- Content CredentialsContent Credentials, prop. n.: A tamper-evident 'nutrition label' attached to a photo, video or document recording where it came from — which camera or AI tool made it and how it was edited — that anyone can inspect.
- deepfakedeepfake, n.: A fake but realistic video, photo or voice recording made with AI that puts words in a real person's mouth or shows them in a scene that never happened.
- deep synthesisdeep synthesis, n.: The Chinese legal term for AI that creates or alters text, images, voices, video or virtual scenes — the technology behind deepfakes — and for the rules that govern it.
- synthetic mediasynthetic media, n.: Images, video, audio or text created or substantially altered by AI rather than recorded or written directly by people, whether for art, entertainment, business or deception.
- transparency obligationstransparency obligations, n.: EU rules requiring that people be told when they are dealing with AI: chatbots must say they are bots, AI-made content must be marked, and deepfakes must be labeled.
- SynthIDSynthID, prop. n.: Google's system for hiding an invisible watermark in pictures, video, audio and text made by its AI tools, so they can later be recognized as AI-generated.
Sources
- DLA Piper. Artificial Intelligence in China (regulatory tracker).
Defined in law or standards
China, Measures for Labeling AI-Generated Synthetic Content (2025) and national standard GB 45438-2025; EU AI Act (Reg. (EU) 2024/1689), Art. 50(2) and 50(4)
Mentioned in
AI watermarkingAI watermarking, n.: Hiding an invisible signal in AI-generated text, images, audio or video so that software can later tell the content was made by AI — like a banknote's watermark, but undetectable to the eye., labellabel, n.: The correct answer attached to an example in a dataset — 'cat' on a photo of a cat, 'positive' on an upbeat review — that a learning system is trained to predict., AI transparencyAI transparency, n.: Openness about AI: telling people when they are dealing with one, how a system was built and tested, and why it reached a particular decision., Content CredentialsContent Credentials, prop. n.: A tamper-evident 'nutrition label' attached to a photo, video or document recording where it came from — which camera or AI tool made it and how it was edited — that anyone can inspect., Cyberspace Administration of ChinaCyberspace Administration of China, prop. n.: China's top internet authority, in charge of online censorship as well as regulation, which also writes and enforces most of the country's AI rules, such as the registration of chatbots and recommendation algorithms., Interim Measures for the Management of Generative AI ServicesInterim Measures for the Management of Generative AI Services, prop. n.: China's 2023 rules for chatbots and other AI that generate text, images, audio or video for the public, requiring lawful training data, content controls, labeling and, for many services, government approval before launch., synthetic mediasynthetic media, n.: Images, video, audio or text created or substantially altered by AI rather than recorded or written directly by people, whether for art, entertainment, business or deception., TAKE IT DOWN ActTAKE IT DOWN Act, prop. n.: A 2025 US federal law that forces websites to remove intimate images of a person posted without consent, including AI-made fakes, within 48 hours of the victim's request, and makes posting them a crime., transparency obligationstransparency obligations, n.: EU rules requiring that people be told when they are dealing with AI: chatbots must say they are bots, AI-made content must be marked, and deepfakes must be labeled., AI Basic ActAI Basic Act, prop. n.: South Korea's main AI law, in force since January 2026, which sets safety and transparency duties for AI used in sensitive areas and for AI-generated content., deep synthesisdeep synthesis, n.: The Chinese legal term for AI that creates or alters text, images, voices, video or virtual scenes — the technology behind deepfakes — and for the rules that govern it.