Anthropic has announced that it will watermark text generated by its AI models, including Claude, to comply with European regulations. The company confirmed the move in an updated support page, detailing how the watermarking will work across its products.
Regulatory Compliance and Technical Implementation
The EU AI Act’s Transparency Code, which took effect on August 2, 2026, requires AI companies to mark AI-generated or edited content in a way that other systems can identify. To meet this obligation, Anthropic will automatically apply watermarking to all text and files produced by models released after that date.
For files, Anthropic is leveraging the C2PA open standard, a widely recognized technical framework for content provenance. The company also confirmed that older models will receive watermarking support, and the watermark will persist even when text is copied and pasted—or lightly edited.
“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,” the support page reads.
Scope and Industry Context
The watermarking will apply across all Claude-based products, including the Claude platform API, Claude Chat, Claude Code, Claude Cowork, and Claude Tag. However, it remains unclear how much editing might be required to remove the watermark. TechCrunch has reached out to Anthropic for clarification and will update this story if more details emerge.
This move comes amid a broader industry push to watermark AI content, driven by user backlash and regulatory pressure. In August 2026, AI music platform Suno announced it would watermark tracks following legal challenges. Earlier in July, newsletter service Substack partnered with Pangram to flag AI-generated content, with CEO Chris Best coining the term “Claudefishing” to describe deceptive AI use.
Anthropic joins a growing list of AI companies—including Black Forest Labs, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Synthesia—that have committed to the EU’s code of practice on transparency.
via TechCrunch AI