What's the difference between AI-generated and AI-enhanced?
The distinction is about what happened to the file. AI-generated means the content was produced from scratch by a model. AI-enhanced means an existing image was altered by AI — a photo you edited with Magic Edit rather than one the model invented.
Worth knowing up front: PrismPoster prints one of these two phrases onto your export when a real person's likeness is involved — “AI-generated” for fresh synthetic content, “AI-enhanced” where AI changed existing footage of a real person. Work with no real person among its inputs carries no visible badge. Every export, badged or not, also carries the same embedded machine-readable provenance metadata, and that mark records the content as AI-made without separating generated from enhanced.
So the distinction is not something the file announces. It is something you may need to describe accurately when you publish.
Why does the difference still matter?
Because disclosure rules and platform upload flows often ask which one applies, and the honest answer differs. Saying a photograph of a real person was "AI-generated" when you only retouched it overstates what happened; saying a fully synthetic clip was merely "enhanced" understates it. When a platform's AI-content flag offers a choice, pick the one that matches what you actually did.
The line is simple in practice:
- Generated — you produced the image, video, or track from a prompt or references in Image Studio, Video Studio, Music Studio, or Storyboard Studio.
- Enhanced — you started from an existing image and changed it with Magic Edit: inpaint, outpaint, retouch, restyle, upscale, object removal, or OCR.
What does the embedded mark actually say?
It records that the file is AI-made — written into IPTC, XMP, and EXIF for images, MP4 container metadata for video, and ID3 for audio. It does not carry a separate "enhanced" value, so a tool reading the metadata can tell the content involved AI but not whether it was generated from nothing or edited from a source. Video rendered through the timeline editor additionally carries a C2PA signature.
Frequently Asked Questions
If I edit a photo with Magic Edit, does the export say "AI-enhanced"?
No. Nothing is printed on the export. The file carries the standard embedded provenance mark, and describing the work as edited rather than generated is your call when you publish it.
Can I choose which label my export gets?
There is no label to choose — the studio resolves it from your inputs. Likeness work is badged “AI-generated” or “AI-enhanced” automatically, everything else carries no visible badge, and the embedded provenance mark is identical across generated and edited work.
Does this differ by plan?
No. The visible badge follows the content, not the plan: likeness work is badged on every tier including Free, and no plan removes it or the embedded mark. For what each plan unlocks, see plans compared or /pricing.
Does provenance cost extra credits?
No. Provenance is part of every export at no extra credit cost. Generation and editing consume credits per type; see credit costs by type.