Pinterest or Instagram labelled your art as AI.
Why the label lands on work you made, what in your file sets it off, and what you can do on each platform.
Checked against the sources below on 10 October 2026.
What happened.
Pinterest: “AI modified”
Pinterest shows an “AI modified” label at the bottom left of a Pin’s close-up. Its help centre says the label comes from one of three places: metadata in the file saying it was generated or modified with AI, read according to the IPTC photo metadata standard; classifiers Pinterest built to spot generative AI content without obvious markers; or the content owner saying AI was used.
When an artist challenged a label in August 2026, Pinterest’s staff reply put it this way:
“If there’s no metadata available, we aren’t able to identify whether a Pin was generated with AI or not.”
So start with the file’s metadata. Its help centre describes classifiers too, though, so a label on a file with clean metadata is possible.
Instagram: “Made with AI”, now “AI info”
In May 2024 Instagram began labelling real photos “Made with AI”. PetaPixel tested it. Removing one speck of dust with Photoshop’s Generative Fill was enough to trigger the label, and so was Generative Expand. The same fix made with the Spot Healing Brush, Content-Aware Fill or the Clone Stamp did not trigger it.
On 1 July 2024 Meta renamed the label “AI info”, saying the old one did not always match people’s expectations. Meta still relies on technical metadata standards such as C2PA and IPTC, which record whether AI tools were used.
Do this first.
Keep everything. Don’t delete, overwrite or re-export your originals. Working files, drafts and process photos are what proves you made it.
- RAW or original camera files, unlocks L2
- Layered project files with their history, L2
- Progress shots or process video, L2
- Device-signed capture (camera or phone signs the file), L3
- A live capture session with two reviewers, L4
You don’t need all of it. The more you can show, the higher the level a TraceHumanity reviewer can certify.
Keep the file you uploaded and the one before it. The difference between them shows which tool wrote the AI marker, if any.
What to do.
Check which tools touched the file
If you used Generative Fill or Generative Expand, even for a small fix, the file records it, and that is the likeliest reason for the label. For small fixes in future, the non-generative tools did not trigger the label in PetaPixel’s tests.
On Pinterest, appeal through support
If no generative tool touched the work, Pinterest’s help centre says to contact its support team to appeal the label. Send the Pin link, your note and your certificate link.
On Instagram, keep the record where people can see it
We found no published way to dispute an automatic “AI info” label. Put your certificate link in the caption or your bio so anyone who questions the work can check the record.
Fix the source for next time
Upload a version exported from your originals, without the generative edit. The label reads what is in the file.
What is not published. Pinterest does not say how long a label appeal takes or what evidence it accepts. We found nothing from Meta on disputing an automatic label.
What to write.
Hello. My Pin [Pin link] carries an “AI modified” label. I made this work myself, without generative AI. A person at TraceHumanity reviewed my process evidence and issued a certificate, public at [certificate link], where anyone can check the signature and the file hash. Please review the label and remove it. Thank you.
For Pinterest support. Replace the brackets. Your link is on your certificate page in the public registry.
What a certificate adds.
A person reviews your evidence against a published standard and issues a certificate. It does not replace the evidence the platform asks for. It gives the reviewer a record they can check for themselves.
- A public page anyone can open, including the person reviewing your appeal.
- Signed with a published key. The signature can be checked without trusting us.
- File-linked provenance. Watermark recovery depends on the image and any transformations applied to it.
TraceHumanity does not yet write IPTC DigitalSourceType into exported files, so today a certificate is appeal evidence, not a way to stop the label appearing.
Your first three works are free across all five levels, including evidence review. No card required. Each level still needs qualifying evidence and approval. Pay only to add more works.
Take the guide with you.
TraceHumanity is not an AI detector. We don’t guess whether something is AI. We establish, with evidence, that a specific work was made by a human.
Sources.
- Pinterest Business Community: “False AI labeling is defamation” and the staff reply2–3 August 2026
- Pinterest Help: Gen AI labelsUndated help page, checked 10 October 2026
- PetaPixel: Instagram photos are being labeled “Made with AI” when they’re not28 May 2024
- PetaPixel: This is what makes Instagram flag your photo as “Made with AI”25 June 2024
- TechCrunch: Meta changes its “Made with AI” label to “AI info”1 July 2024
Other guides.
Etsy removed your handmade listing under its Creativity Standards: how to appeal
Where the appeal lives in Shop Manager, the evidence Etsy asks for, the deadlines and what to write.
Adobe Stock rejected your real photo as “not marked as AI generated”
What the rejection means, the two routes contributors use to get a review, and what to send.
Flagged as AI somewhere else?
The general appeal: the evidence to keep, what to write, and the record you hand over.