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No, I wasn't suggesting that. I was saying that if there was digital art (human made) aesthetically significant that a curator would want to display it in a mus

No, I wasn't suggesting that. I was saying that if there was digital art (human made) aesthetically significant that a curator would want to display it in a museum, Microsoft's GUID supplied to a data collection agency would make it possible to retrieve if ever/whenever that data were declassified (assuming it isn't purged) It's possible a very bad curator with a terrible taste in art might select slop to display, but I was refering to "fine art" or at least finer art that is digital.

initramfs 23d ago
According to It's FOSS, :It's FOSS 3h • Microsoft quietly embeds a hidden tracking identifier in every AI-generated image you create using Paint or Photos on Windows. A researcher discovered that these apps embed a server-issued GUID (a globally unique identifier) as an invisible watermark in locally generated AI images. The watermark is tied to the prompts you type. And since those prompts are associated with your Microsoft account, Microsoft could "theoretically" trace any watermarked image back to the user who created it. This is recycling an idea from the 80s. Back then, laser printer manufacturers added tiny yellow dot patterns to every printed page. With this, they could identify the printer. Now Microsoft has brought the same idea to AI image generation, and added it to two of the most widely used default Windows apps. Microsoft had disclosed its AI safety measures in official documentation, but the practical implication, that your output image file carries an invisible fingerprint linked to your identity, was never clearly mentioned, of course. The researcher found this by reading Microsoft's own published documentation and analyzing the watermarking mechanics. AI watermarking is a requirement by law in the EU. But "this image was generated by AI" is different than "this image was generated by AI by Mr. Winston Smith". For anyone who values privacy, this is something to worry about. If you generate an image locally, on your own device, why should it carry a tag that can identify you to the company whose software you used? But then, anyone who values their privacy won't be using Microsoft Windows anyway." Since the cat is out of the bag, I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft generates an invisible watermark for ALL files and not just AI generated ones. The real story is that since AI watermarks are possible, there is no technical barrier to them adding personal EXIF metadata to a file where it can't be seen, removed, or decrypted, whether it is media, a document or other file.

initramfs 23d ago

According to It's FOSS, :It's FOSS 3h • Microsoft quietly embeds a hidden tracking identifier in every AI-generated image you create using Paint or Photos on Windows. A researcher discovered that these apps embed a server-issued GUID (a globally unique identifier) as an invisible watermark in locally generated AI images. The watermark is tied to the prompts you type. And since those prompts are associated with your Microsoft account, Microsoft could "theoretically" trace any watermarked image back to the user who created it. This is recycling an idea from the 80s. Back then, laser printer manufacturers added tiny yellow dot patterns to every printed page. With this, they could identify the printer. Now Microsoft has brought the same idea to AI image generation, and added it to two of the most widely used default Windows apps. Microsoft had disclosed its AI safety measures in official documentation, but the practical implication, that your output image file carries an invisible fingerprint linked to your identity, was never clearly mentioned, of course. The researcher found this by reading Microsoft's own published documentation and analyzing the watermarking mechanics. AI watermarking is a requirement by law in the EU. But "this image was generated by AI" is different than "this image was generated by AI by Mr. Winston Smith". For anyone who values privacy, this is something to worry about. If you generate an image locally, on your own device, why should it carry a tag that can identify you to the company whose software you used? But then, anyone who values their privacy won't be using Microsoft Windows anyway." Since the cat is out of the bag, I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft generates an invisible watermark for ALL files and not just AI generated ones. The real story is that since AI watermarks are possible, there is no technical barrier to them adding personal EXIF metadata to a file where it can't be seen, removed, or decrypted, whether it is media, a document or other file.