AI image disclosure checklist for sellers and publishers

1. Classify the content

Was the final image substantially generated by AI, or did AI only assist a human-created work? Some platforms, including KDP, treat those categories differently. The label should follow the destination’s own definition rather than your personal view of how much editing feels ‘human’.

2. Check the destination

Etsy requires sellers to disclose seller-prompted AI creations in listings. KDP requires disclosure of AI-generated content during publishing. Adobe Stock requires generative-AI labeling. The mechanism is not the same across platforms, so a disclosure that is correct for one destination may be incomplete for another.

3. KDP: generated vs assisted matters

KDP says an image is AI-generated when an AI-based tool created the actual content, even if you made substantial edits afterwards. AI-assisted means you created the content and used AI only to edit, refine, error-check or otherwise improve it. That distinction can change whether disclosure is required.

4. Etsy: disclose in the listing

Etsy allows seller-prompted AI creations within its ‘designed by a seller’ framework, but the seller must disclose AI use in the listing description. Etsy also expects seller creative involvement; a generator’s commercial licence does not replace the marketplace’s creativity standards.

5. Adobe Stock: labeling is part of submission

Adobe Stock requires contributors to identify generative-AI content in its metadata workflow and applies separate rules for prompts, titles, keywords, people, property and releases. The disclosure is not merely a sentence you add to a description; it is part of the contributor submission process.

6. Disclosure does not cure rights problems

Telling a platform that an image used AI does not make trademark, copyright, publicity, privacy or source-material issues disappear. Disclosure answers a transparency requirement; rights clearance is a different task.

7. Check the legal layer too

Platform disclosure is not the whole answer. In the EU, AI Act Article 50 has separate transparency duties that apply from 2 August 2026, including a deployer disclosure rule for AI-generated or manipulated image, audio or video that constitutes a deep fake. That rule is narrower than a blanket requirement to label every ordinary AI image, so classify the use before assuming either ‘always disclose’ or ‘never disclose’.

8. Avoid over-disclosure myths

Do not invent a disclosure requirement where none exists, but do not hide AI use when a platform or applicable law specifically asks for it. Follow the wording and workflow of the destination and legal context you actually use rather than copying a disclosure template from another marketplace.

9. Keep a record

Save the generation date, model/tool, policy URL and a short note about what you disclosed and where. Policies change, and a documented good-faith process is better than relying on memory when a listing is edited or a book is republished months later.