Claude users are mad that Anthropic's new watermarks will catch them using it

Anthropic recently decided to watermark Claude's outputs by inserting invisible code into the chatbot's editorial text, making it identifiable to computer systems as AI-generated. The rollout aims to satisfy the EU AI Act's Transparency Code, which requires tech companies to label AI-generated or AI-edited content in a machine-readable way.

On Reddit, users expressed anger over the policy. One poster, visionode, called the watermarking system a draconian conspiracy, arguing that while savvy users could evade detection by paraphrasing, average users—like students reorganizing paragraphs, journalists summarizing transcripts, or writers asking for synonyms—would be caught. The author of the excerpt disputes this, noting that copying such output verbatim is unethical. Other Redditors also mocked the outrage, with comments like "Get a load of this guy" and "take a deep breath."

Another critic called the watermarks "unethical" and "disgusting," arguing that they had done the majority of the work and Claude was merely a tool. Other users shot back, saying the watermark is not about claiming credit but about detecting AI-generated outputs due to the risks they pose. One commenter even quipped, "Bro couldn't even complain about Claude without using Claude to write it." The excerpt indicates some critics have made more nuanced arguments against the policy, but the full details are cut off.