Images, audio and video
What can be generated and edited, which labelling duties apply, and how to tell that something is artificial.
What is possible
| Task | Maturity | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Generating illustrations and backgrounds | high | Text inside images stays hard |
| Cutting out, retouching, extending images | high | |
| Transcribing audio to text | high | Microphone matters more than model |
| Reading text aloud | high | Check numbers and abbreviations |
| Generating subtitles | high | Correct names afterwards |
| Generating video | medium | Short shots, high effort |
| Imitating a specific voice | technically easy | Legally delicate, see below |
Spotting generated content
- Look at hands, text in the image, reflections and repeating patterns. This is becoming increasingly unreliable.
- Check provenance: who published it first, and can that be traced?
- Check context: is anyone else reporting it, and on what sources?
- For any request to transfer money, always check back through a different channel. That is the only reliable test.
The dials when generating
| Dial | Effect |
|---|---|
| Steps | More steps, cleaner detail, longer compute |
| Guidance scale | How closely the prompt is followed; high values oversaturate |
| Seed | The same seed reproduces the same image |
| Negative prompt | What must expressly not appear |
| Edge or pose conditioning | Turns the generator into a tool with fixed geometry |
See Generating images.
For business use
- Do not depict real people, not even by resemblance.
- Do not generate third-party trade marks.
- Label generated images as such, at minimum in the metadata.
- Read the provider's terms before the first campaign, not after.
- Store results with their prompt and seed, so variants stay reproducible.
The duties under Art. 50 AI Act
| Who | Duty |
|---|---|
| Providers of generative systems | Mark outputs machine-readably as artificially generated |
| Deployers, for deepfakes | Disclose that the content is artificially generated or altered |
| Deployers, for texts on matters of public interest | Disclose where published without editorial responsibility |
| Providers of dialogue systems | Make it recognisable that a system is speaking |
Exceptions exist for obviously artistic, satirical and fictional works, subject to the proviso that disclosure must not impair the presentation.
Watermarks and their limits
Methods embedding an unobtrusive marker exist and are in use. They survive light compression but not every kind of post-processing, and they evidence origin from a system rather than the absence of manipulation. A watermark is therefore a duty-of-care measure and not protection.
What works against voice fraud is organisational: a call-back procedure to a registered number for every payment instruction, four eyes above a threshold, and an agreed code word for exceptions.
The labelling sheet
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Labelling and rights for generated media
When labelling is required, which rights are affected, and what to settle before publishing.
Checklist2 items