Notes on image metadata and AI labels

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  • EXIF

    EXIF Data, Explained Without the Jargon

    EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) is the hidden information a camera or phone writes into each photo: settings, date and time, device model and often the GPS position.

  • Facebook · Instagram

    My real photo got an “AI info” tag on Instagram. Why?

    Instagram’s “AI info” label usually comes from the file itself: Meta’s apps look inside uploads for two things: a C2PA provenance record and an IPTC DigitalSourceType value. Editors that use generative tools — Generative Fill, AI object removal — often write one or both, even when the change was tiny and the photo is genuine.

  • Stable Diffusion · ComfyUI

    Stable Diffusion and ComfyUI hide your full prompt in the PNG

    A1111 and Forge save the prompt, negative prompt, seed, sampler and checkpoint in a PNG text chunk called “parameters”. ComfyUI goes further and embeds the complete node graph as JSON in “prompt” and “workflow” chunks — anyone can drag your image back into ComfyUI and rebuild it.

  • Midjourney · DALL·E

    Keep your Midjourney and DALL·E prompts to yourself

    Images exported from Midjourney, DALL·E or Firefly can carry the prompt text, a job ID, your account name and an AI-source declaration in XMP, EXIF or PNG text. If your prompts are part of your craft, that is work you are giving away with every post.

  • C2PA

    C2PA and Content Credentials, explained plainly

    C2PA is an open standard for attaching a signed history to a file: which app made it, which edits followed and whether generative AI was involved. Adobe, Microsoft, Google, OpenAI and several camera makers write it, and social platforms read it.