How to tell if an image was made with Microsoft Designer

What Microsoft Designer writes into the file

C2PA (Content Credentials) is a signed provenance record in the file, IPTC Digital Source Type a metadata field on how the image was made, for example trainedAlgorithmicMedia for fully AI-generated images. An invisible watermark sits in the pixels, and only the vendor can read it.

How to check a Microsoft Designer image

1. Drag the original file from Microsoft Designer into the box above. It is read in your browser, not uploaded. Screenshots and copies from stores or social networks usually no longer carry the data.
2. The checker then shows program, certificate and source type under “Content Credentials (C2PA)”.
3. For images from Microsoft Azure, Microsoft names the fields: description “AI Generated Image”, program “Azure OpenAI ImageGen” or “Azure OpenAI DALL-E”, issuer Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft does not document whether Designer and Bing write the same details.
4. For checking the signature, Microsoft points to contentcredentials.org/verify.

More detail in the Content Credentials viewer and AI image checker.

The checker is not an AI detector. It only shows what the file says. An empty result does not prove a real photo, not least because providers of AI systems placed on the market before 2 August 2026 have until 2 December 2026 to add machine-readable marking (Article 111(4) AI Act).

What survives uploads and edits

The record is metadata and disappears with screenshots, exports without C2PA support and uploads that discard metadata. We found no statement from Microsoft on this.

Labelling duty in your store under the EU AI Act

If you use Microsoft Designer to create or edit images for your own store, you are a deployer, even when an agency or an employee works on your instructions (Article 3(4) AI Act, Commission guidelines para. 12, 14). If the image is a deep fake, meaning realistic and falsely appearing authentic, you have had to label it visibly since 2 August 2026 (Article 50(4) AI Act). The labelling check tells you whether that applies, and the guide to the labelling duty explains the rules.

The traces in the table do not replace that label, because people cannot see them straight away (guidelines para. 117). Still, keep them in the file, as the guidelines recommend. They document where the image came from.

Designer is used for banners, graphics and product scenes. A clearly designed graphic is usually not a deep fake (para. 116). A realistic scene with people or with your product can be one.

How Microsoft Designer labels its own output

The Bing Image Creator terms of use (March 2026) prohibit removing or altering content credentials or other provenance signals.