Anthropic models will soon inject watermarks identifying AI-generated text
Anthropic said in a support document Tuesday that its future AI models will put an invisible watermark in all text, identifying it as AI-generated. The change comes in response to new AI transparency laws in the EU, but Anthropic says it will apply in all countries where Claude models are used. No U.S. law currently requires AI-generated content to carry transparency disclosures or watermarks,…
Anthropic has announced that its upcoming AI models will embed invisible watermarks in all text, signifying that the content was generated by artificial intelligence. This move is a direct response to emerging AI transparency laws in the European Union, although the company intends to implement the change globally where its Claude models are deployed.
Currently, the United States lacks any legislation mandating transparency disclosures or watermarks for AI-generated content, although several U.S. states, notably California, have enacted AI transparency laws that require labeling.
Anthropic has committed to adhering to the EU AI Act’s Article 50(2) Code of Practice on Transparency of AI-Generated Content, which mandates the use of watermarks. The company has signed this code of practice, outlining its intentions and methods for implementing the required watermarks. Claude models released after August 2, 2026, will incorporate these watermarks at their initial launch.
According to EU regulations, AI providers will have until December 2, 2026, to update older models to comply with the new watermarking requirement.
While Anthropic has not disclosed the exact method for implementing the watermarks, it assures that the mark "will travel with the text when it's copied and pasted elsewhere," ensuring transparency even when the content is shared. The company intends to provide further technical details in forthcoming documentation. Additionally, Anthropic plans to embed standard provenance data into generated images, video, and audio, satisfying the requirements of California’s AI transparency law through the use of the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) standard.
As of July 2026, approximately 190 companies and organizations had signed the EU AI Act’s Code of Practice on Transparency, including major players such as OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Mistral, Cohere, and others. Notably, Elon Musk’s xAI and Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta have not signed the code of practice.
Written by urgent.news from Fast Company's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
