AI Companies Rush to Comply with EU Regulations

Anthropic has become the latest AI company to add a watermark to its AI-generated text, in a bid to comply with the European Union's AI Act. The company's decision follows a series of similar moves from other AI companies.

The AI Act's Transparency Code, which took effect on August 2, requires AI companies to mark AI-generated or edited content in a way that other systems can identify.

Anthropic said that all models released after August 2 will automatically have technology to watermark both computer-generated text and files. The company is using the C2PA open standard for files, and the watermark will travel with the text when it's copied and pasted elsewhere.

"Because the watermark is part of the text, it will travel with the text when it's copied and pasted elsewhere, and may persist through some editing," Anthropic said in an updated support page.

The company noted that watermarking will apply to different products like Claude platform API, Claude, Claude Code, Claude Cowork, and Claude Tag.

Other companies like Black Forest Labs, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Synthesia have committed to adhering to the EU's code. The move comes after a series of backlash from users and regulatory scrutiny.

Platforms are now rushing to watermark AI-generated content, with AI music platform Suno saying it will mark tracks created on its platform last week.

It's not clear how much editing users need to do to remove the watermark. Anthropic has been asked to clarify, and TechCrunch will update the story if we hear back.

This development highlights the growing importance of transparency in the AI industry, and the need for companies to prioritize user trust and regulatory compliance.