The new protections only apply to images generated by OpenAI products, so while they won’t affect the flood of imagery coming from less reputable AI tools, they can help ensure that OpenAI isn’t part of the problem.

OpenAI is also previewing a public verification tool that will check for both signals, allowing users to easily test whether an image was generated using AI. Initially, the tool will only extend to images generated by OpenAI products; the company hopes to expand it to cover other tools over time.

Founded in 2021, the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) is a non-profit dedicated to mitigating the harmful effects of AI imagery on public discourse. The C2PA standard has been adopted by a range of Google products, but adoption remains inconsistent across the industry. Because the C2PA signal is clearly accessible in the metadata of each file, it can be manipulated and is most useful among trusted users.

SynthID is a newer effort designed to be a more robust measure to meddling. Developed by Google, the SynthID watermark is designed to persist even when bad actors attempt to remove it, either through screenshots, resizing, or digital manipulation.