Paint's AI images carry an invisible ID you cannot see
Edition of 2026-08-25
# AI For All ### Tuesday, August 25, 2026
Someone who makes an image with AI in Microsoft Paint or Photos on a Copilot+ PC now carries an invisible unique ID in the file, and the words they typed were checked by a Microsoft server, even when the image was made on their own machine.
Made on your PC, checked on Microsoft's server
When you generate an image with AI in Microsoft Paint or Photos, the words you type do not stay on your machine. They go first to a Microsoft server for moderation, which sends back an invisible ID, a GUID of *16-byte*. Paint stamps that ID into the picture, in pixels you cannot see.
The reverse engineer who documented this, Xusheng Li, found that in a synthetic test image, *193,376 of 262,144 pixels* changed after the watermark was added. A separate setting for a visible Copilot logo does not control it. If the watermark cannot be written, Paint refuses to return the image at all.
Microsoft does disclose a label called C2PA on AI-generated images. It does not disclose the invisible ID, nor the server check on your words. European transparency rules in force since *August 2, 2026* require a detectable, machine-readable mark on AI content; a prompt-linked ID goes further than that requirement. For anyone who handles sensitive material, the practical line is simple: generating locally is not generating privately.
A price cut with a date attached
OpenAI has cut the price of its flagship model, GPT-5.6 Sol, on its own API: *20% off input, 33% off output. The reduction is live and the promotional pricing is guaranteed at least through November 21, 2026*. The credit programs of Codex and ChatGPT Work get the same treatment.
A week ago, the same model was discounted only through a third-party marketplace, with a reseller's end date. Now the cut is official on OpenAI's own API, with a guarantee instead of a rumour. For a founder or finance lead who pays an AI bill by usage, that turns a price cut into a planning number: three months of known rates.
OpenAI API pricing · Technology.org
Weak signal
TechCrunch reports the SEC is probing Situational Awareness, an AI hedge fund that nearly imploded. No primary filing is public yet. If documents emerge, that becomes a story.
A quiet Tuesday: two stories cleared the bar, both verified against their sources.