ChatGPT free users, look away now! OpenAI is testing watermarks on image generation that could render the feature redundant unless you pay

Date:
Tue, 08 Apr 2025 09:31:46 +0000

Description:
OpenAI is testing watermarks on ChatGPT 4o's image generation, but only for free users.

FULL STORY ======================================================================OpenAI is testing watermarks on ChatGPT 4o's image generation Found in the latest Android app beta, watermarks could affect free users Paid ChatGPT subscribers are likely to not see watermarking on images

ChatGPT 4o's image-generation capabilities have been the talk of the town over the last week or so, but it looks like free users might get hit with a downgrade very soon.

OpenAI is currently testing watermarks in a new version of the ChatGPT
Android app and it looks like free users are going to be the ones to suffer.

Shared by @btibor91 on X, code in version 1.2025.0912509108 beta references "image-gen-watermark-for-free", hinting at upcoming watermarking presumably for users on the ChatGPT free plan.

This watermark implementation comes off the back of ChatGPT server overload following the release of 4o's impressive image-generation capabilities and
the viral use of the platform to create Studio Ghibli-esque imagery .

Up until this point, the Studio Ghibli-style images have had no watermarking, causing huge concern among creatives as the ethics of AI image generation has once again been called into question.

Now it looks like you'll need to pay for ChatGPT Plus, which costs $20 / roughly 16 a month, in order to get full access to 4o's image-generation tool without watermarks and without a minuscule 3-a-day limit. ChatGPT updates- Student Plus referral program now also available for Colombian students (Universidad Nacional de Colombia)- new mentions of "shared posts" in
addition to shared conversation, canvas and deep research in the web app- the new ImageGen watermark is mentioned pic.twitter.com/j4sYfWJXLB April 5, 2025 Not confirmed, but likely (Image credit: Future / ChatGPT)

While it's possible that OpenAI is just testing watermark capabilities in the beta release of the ChatGPT Android app, this implementation is likely to occur sooner rather than later.

There has been significant backlash following the viral trend of anime images that resemble Studio Ghibli, and this looks to be the first step in
addressing those copyright concerns.

While ChatGPT Plus is already a compelling value proposition for those who
use AI frequently, including a watermark on images generated by free users could see an increase in paid subscriptions.

That said, we don't know what these watermarks look like as of yet, and depending on how large they are it could be a positive step in regulating AI-generated images on social media. You might also like I tried ChatGPT's
new sarcastic voice, and it made me hate Mondays even more I tried Deep Research on ChatGPT, and its like a super smart but slightly absent-minded librarian from a childrens book I compared Manus AI to ChatGPT now I understand why everyone is calling it the next DeepSeek



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/artificial-intelligence/chatgpt-free-users -look-away-now-openai-is-testing-watermarks-on-image-generation-that-could-ren der-the-feature-redundant-unless-you-pay


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