posted in Technology
How Claude marks AI-generated content: (1) watermarks embedded in text, and (2) signed provenance metadata attached to files.
support.claude.com/en/articles/16266773-how-claude-marks-ai-generated-content
support.claude.comHow Claude marks AI-generated content | Claude Help Center
Replying to @eicker@lemmy.world
1. Embedded watermarks in text
When a supported Claude model generates text, it weaves an imperceptible watermark directly into the text itself. You won’t see it, and it doesn’t change the meaning, quality, or readability of Claude’s response.
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. Watermarking will be applied at the model level, which means it will be present no matter which Claude product or surface the text comes from.
Can someone ELI5 how this would actually work, especially with copying and pasting?
Replying to @Prox@lemmy.world
They were being pretty vague, but it could be something like “25 characters after every comma used, put a vowel. 25 characters after that vowel, put a space. 25 characters after that space, put a period.” (Except much more complex than what I made up.) The point is to string together a text pattern that is so exact that it can’t be just a coincidence.
The “watermark” is the text, so when you copy the text, you’re also copying the watermark. It’s also why they say it might not be conclusive if the text output is manually edited, or the output is too short.
Not for nothing, I think these types of endeavors are going to have unintended consequences. Despite them flat out saying that the lack of a watermark doesn’t mean it wasn’t AI generated, I think it’s very plausible that the proliferation of watermarks will lend credibility to anything without a watermark.