OpenAI: Content Credentials, SynthID and a verification tool

The document exists. The ledger fetched it at its publisher and quotes it.

Record ID

CPS-2026-0009

Kind

Platform or model provider

Jurisdiction

United States

Last verified

15 September 2026

Added

15 September 2026

• OpenAI states it began adding Content Credentials to DALL-E 3 images in 2024 and later to ImageGen and Sora, and joined the C2PA steering committee.
• The post says "We recently took the step of making OpenAI a C2PA Conforming Generator Product", and the C2PA conforming products list carries an OpenAI Media Service generator entry.
• OpenAI is explicit that metadata "can be stripped, lost through uploads and downloads, or broken by transformations like file format changes, resizing, or screenshots".
• SynthID watermarking was added to images generated through ChatGPT, Codex or the OpenAI API, under a partnership with Google.
• The 31 July 2026 update extends SynthID watermarking to supported audio from ChatGPT and the API, and adds API access for verification.
• OpenAI says its verification tool is limited at launch to content generated by OpenAI, and that if nothing is detected the tool "will not make a definitive conclusion".

Embeds a mark or manifest, Displays or verifies, What it requires. Stated means the document you can open below says it; silent means the ledger read the document and it does not.

Embeds a mark or manifestStated

Content Credentials on generated images, and SynthID watermarking on images and, since 31 July 2026, supported audio.Advancing content provenance for a safer, more transparent AI ecosystem, OpenAI, primary source, 19 May 2026.

Displays or verifiesStated

A public verification tool, in preview, reading both Content Credentials and SynthID, plus API access for verification.Advancing content provenance for a safer, more transparent AI ecosystem, OpenAI, primary source, 19 May 2026.

What it requiresSilent

Nothing is required of a user. OpenAI states the behaviour as its own policy, not as an obligation it is passing on.Advancing content provenance for a safer, more transparent AI ecosystem, OpenAI, primary source, 19 May 2026.

Two things a publisher can act on. First, an OpenAI image may carry two independent signals, a C2PA manifest and a SynthID watermark, and they fail differently: the manifest dies on a screenshot, the watermark often survives it. Second, OpenAI's own refusal to conclude from absence is the standard you should copy into your newsroom guidance, because a verification tool that reports nothing has reported nothing, not innocence.

1. Advancing content provenance for a safer, more transparent AI ecosystem, OpenAIPrimary · 19 May 2026
2. C2PA conforming products listPrimary · 15 September 2026

• VerifiedPlatform or model providerCPS-2026-0010

  Google: SynthID watermarking, the SynthID Detector, and C2PA in Pixel and Photos

  United States · verified 15 September 2026

  Google states that "SynthID embeds digital watermarks directly into AI-generated images, audio, text or video" and that the watermarks are imperceptible to humans.

• VerifiedStandardCPS-2026-0003

  The C2PA conformance programme, the trust list and the conforming products list

  Global · verified 15 September 2026

  The programme holds generator products, validator products and certification authorities to the specification, the Certificate Policy and the Security Requirements.

• Open questionOpen questionCPS-2026-0025

  Is a stripped manifest evidence of tampering?

  Global · verified 15 September 2026

  OpenAI states that C2PA metadata "can be stripped, lost through uploads and downloads, or broken by transformations like file format changes, resizing, or screenshots".

• Open questionOpen questionCPS-2026-0028

  May the absence of Content Credentials be treated as suspicion?

  Global · verified 15 September 2026

  OpenAI states that if no metadata or watermark is detected "the tool will not make a definitive conclusion about whether the image was generated with OpenAI tools since provenance signals can in some cases be stripped".

• VerifiedBinding lawCPS-2026-0024

  The COPIED Act, S. 1396 in the 119th Congress

  United States · verified 15 September 2026

  The bill's long title is "To require transparency with respect to content and content provenance information, to protect artistic content, and for other purposes".

• AbsentBinding lawCPS-2026-0023

  The TAKE IT DOWN Act requires no provenance mark

  United States · verified 15 September 2026

  The Act is Public Law 119-12, enacted 19 May 2025, from S. 146, titled the Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks Act.