OpenAI is adding text watermarking in ChatGPT and Codex
OpenAI announced that it will begin embedding an invisible, machine‑readable watermark—named textGrain—into the text generated by its ChatGPT and Codex models for users located in the European Union. The rollout will cover all subscription plans in the region, but the company clarified that the watermark will not become the default setting worldwide at launch. In addition to the EU deployment, OpenAI is offering API customers globally the option to enable watermarking for selected models, and it is coordinating with cloud partners to extend the feature to model outputs accessed through their services in the coming weeks.
The move is driven by compliance with the European Union’s AI Act, which mandates transparency measures for generative AI systems. OpenAI claims that textGrain’s detection rates “matched or exceeded” those of competing solutions such as Google DeepMind’s SynthID and Anthropic’s watermark introduced in August, and it provided benchmark data showing comparable performance between watermarked and unwatermarked text. Nonetheless, the company cautioned that the watermark does not guarantee reliable detection and does not verify the accuracy of the content, determine ownership, measure human contribution, or prove human authorship.
To support independent evaluation, OpenAI will grant access to its detection tool on a case‑by‑case basis to approved researchers and expert organizations, allowing them to check for the presence of the watermark without exposing user prompts or conversations. Because of the possibility of missed watermarks and false positives, the detector will not be publicly released at launch. The regional, opt‑in approach gives OpenAI time to gather real‑world feedback before considering a broader, possibly global, implementation.
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