{"slug": "anthropic-adding-watermarks-to-ai-generated-content-to-comply-with-eu-law", "title": "Anthropic adding watermarks to AI-generated content to comply with EU law", "summary": "Anthropic, the AI company behind the Claude chatbot, is adding watermarks to AI-generated text, images, and files worldwide to comply with the European Union AI Act's transparency code, which took effect on Aug. 2. The watermarks are imperceptible and travel with the text when copied, but Anthropic acknowledged limitations in detecting heavily edited or paraphrased content. The move follows commitments from nearly 200 companies, including OpenAI, Meta, Google, and Microsoft, to comply with EU transparency rules, though some users criticized the measure as ineffective.", "body_md": "# Anthropic adding watermarks to AI-generated content to comply with EU law\n\nSee more of our coverage in your search results.\n\n[Add The New York Post on Google](https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=nypost.com)\n\nDario Amodei’s Anthropic is adding watermarks to AI-generated content in order to comply with a strict new transparency law in Europe — drawing gripes from some users.\n\nThe AI giant, known for its Claude chatbot, linked the move to the European Union AI Act’s transparency code — aimed at helping people distinguish human-made content from the AI-generated variety — which took effect on Aug. 2.\n\nThe watermarks appear automatically in AI-generated text, images and files, according to [a support page on Anthropic’s website](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/16266773-how-claude-marks-ai-generated-content).\n\n“When a supported Claude model generates text, it weaves an imperceptible watermark directly into the text itself,” the company’s website said. “You won’t see it, and it doesn’t change the meaning, quality, or readability of Claude’s response.”\n\nAnthropic added that the watermarks will “travel with the text when it’s copied and pasted elsewhere, and may persist through some editing.”\n\nThe watermarks will be implemented “wherever Claude is offered, worldwide,” including within the Claude Platform API, Claude Code, Claude Cowork and Claude Tag.\n\nAnthropic acknowledged that its detection program has “limitations” and may not always identify AI-generated content, especially in cases where text has been “heavily edited, paraphrased, translated, or mixed into other writing” or the “passage is very short.”\n\nThe European Commission, the EU’s digital watchdog, has said it had “strong backing” from the tech industry in its push to clearly label AI-generated content so that users aren’t misled.\n\nAs of July 31, the EU had secured commitments from nearly 200 companies to comply with its transparency rules.\n\nAside from Anthropic, AI giants like Sam Altman’s OpenAI, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, Google and Microsoft all signed on to the pledge.\n\n“By signing the code, providers and deployers of generative AI systems signal their intention to promote public trust in AI and to mitigate deception and misinformation,” the [EU said in a press release](https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/strong-backing-code-practice-transparency-ai-generated-content).\n\nThe efforts by Anthropic and other companies come amid heightened concerns about the rise of so-called “AI slop” and AI-generated content being passed off as authentic.\n\nLast month, a [debut novelist’s $2 million book deal was canceled](https://nypost.com/2026/07/31/media/debut-novelists-2m-deal-canceled-on-suspicions-of-ai-use-after-literary-savants-fawned-over-stunning-writing/) after a publisher became concerned that he had used AI to write the manuscript.\n\nStill, Anthropic’s new policy irked some commenters, [with one calling it “total bulls–t.”](https://x.com/NickADobos/status/2086957709258346819)\n\nOthers pointed out that tech-savvy consumers may be able to find workarounds.\n\nIt’s “hard to see what Claude’s watermarking approach really solves,”[ one person wrote on X.](https://x.com/DanielHJiang/status/2087232065553215833)\n\n“There are already plenty of free and open-source models without watermarks, so anyone who really wants to avoid them can simply use something else.”", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/anthropic-adding-watermarks-to-ai-generated-content-to-comply-with-eu-law", "canonical_source": "https://nypost.com/2026/08/12/business/anthropic-adding-watermarks-to-ai-generated-content-to-comply-with-eu-law/", "published_at": "2026-08-12 17:26:22+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-12 17:44:44.687577+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy", "generative-ai", "ai-products"], "entities": ["Anthropic", "Claude", "European Union", "OpenAI", "Meta", "Google", "Microsoft", "Dario Amodei"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/anthropic-adding-watermarks-to-ai-generated-content-to-comply-with-eu-law", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/anthropic-adding-watermarks-to-ai-generated-content-to-comply-with-eu-law.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/anthropic-adding-watermarks-to-ai-generated-content-to-comply-with-eu-law.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/anthropic-adding-watermarks-to-ai-generated-content-to-comply-with-eu-law.jsonld"}}