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Glossary

Generator tag: the tool name in the metadata

A generator tag is any metadata field that names the software or service that produced an image, such as XMP xmp:CreatorTool, EXIF Software, a PNG Software text chunk or a C2PA claim generator, which is strong evidence only when it sits inside a signed manifest and weak evidence when it is a bare editable field.

Definitions and isGenAI behaviour as of October 2026. Updated .

See the term in a real reportFrequently asked questions
Code-drawn illustration for Generator tag

Illustration · PNG file

  1. Signature + IHDR
  2. iTXt XML:com.adobe.xmprecord
  3. tEXt parameters
  4. tEXt prompt / workflow
  5. tEXt invokeai_metadata
  6. eXIf
  7. caBX C2PA manifest
  8. IDAT pixels
  9. IEND

AI source type declared

The file labels itself as AI-made.

IPTC DigitalSourceType such as trainedAlgorithmicMedia is read from XMP and shown with its exact value.

Check an image →
AI source type declared: where this record sits inside a PNG file and what the isGenAI report says about it. The picture is a code-drawn illustration.

Where tool names appear

Editors write CreatorTool and Software when saving; generators sometimes write their name in the same fields or in a description; C2PA manifests record the claim generator that signed the record. The same field can read “Adobe Photoshop” on a photograph, an AI render and a scan, because it describes the last tool that saved the file, not the origin of its pixels. Filenames with a tool’s name are not metadata at all.

How isGenAI treats generator tags

A tool name alone is not a creation declaration. isGenAI reports a signed claim generator as part of a validated manifest, reports an explicit AI statement such as “generated with Midjourney” as a declaration with its snippet, and reads the IPTC Digital Source Type as a declared source type. A bare CreatorTool value naming an editor produces no finding, and the report says plainly that a name in a filename or title is not evidence.

Seeing the raw tags

The EXIF viewer lists Software, CreatorTool and similar fields so you can read them yourself, and the image metadata compare tool shows how they change between an original and an export.

A practical example: a photo edited in a desktop editor and exported for the web may say the editor’s name in Software, while an AI render opened and saved in the same editor says exactly the same thing. Only the source type or a signed manifest separates them.

How to use this term when checking a file

  1. Upload the original file to the AI image detector or the tool named on the page.
  2. Find the finding that uses this term under “How we checked” and read the source field it names.
  3. Weigh it by kind: a signed record, a declared field, a saved prompt and a matching copy are different strengths of evidence.
  4. Remember that absence of a record is not evidence of a human author.

See the term in a real report

Frequently asked questions

Does “Software: Adobe Photoshop” mean the image is edited?

It means Photoshop saved it. It does not say what was edited or whether AI generated the pixels.

Is a filename like midjourney_01.png evidence?

No. Filenames are not metadata, and isGenAI does not treat them as findings.

When is a tool name strong evidence?

When it is the claim generator inside a validated C2PA manifest, or part of an explicit AI statement in the metadata.

Where can I see the tool name?

In the EXIF viewer under Software or CreatorTool, or in the C2PA checker as the claim generator.

Sources

Definitions follow the published standards linked above; the isGenAI behaviour described is the deployed checker as of October 2026.