Ai and ML
EU rules cited as reason for effort to trace AI output ancestry
Anthropic will embed watermarks in the text and files generated by future models it launches in the EU, as part of its effort to comply with content and transparency rules in the bloc's AI Act."Generated text will carry embedded watermarks, and generated files will include digitally signed provenance metadata where supported," the company said in a help document published on Monday.The AI biz is also working on models it has already released, to add output marking during the transition period allowed under EU law.
"Marking will apply to output from supported models wherever Claude is offered, worldwide," the company said.
The move may further amplify the appeal of open weight models and alienate Claude customers, who don't necessarily want consumers of their AI-generated content to know its provenance. In the past, Claude users have expressed frustration with pricing changes, reliability issues, and model safeguards that have hindered legitimate work in the name of safety. Claude users appear to be skeptical that a text-based watermarking scheme will work. Researchers have already demonstrated that image-based watermarking can be undone.Anthropic intends to apply marks to output from covered Claude models on the Claude Platform (API), Claude, Claude Code, Claude Cowork, and Claude Tag. This also includes third-party providers of Anthropic models like AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Foundry.The Ai biz expects to provide details about how people can detect Claude's marks, as required under EU law, in forthcoming documentation."When a supported Claude model generates text, it weaves an imperceptible watermark directly into the text itself," the biz said. "You won’t see it, and it doesn’t change the meaning, quality, or readability of Claude’s response.
