thumbor-ai-label¶
A Thumbor plugin that reads AI provenance metadata from the source image and draws a visible AI label on every generated image style.
Pre-1.0
Everything documented here works and is covered by tests, but the configuration surface may still change.
Why it exists¶
EU AI Act Article 50 has applied since 2 August 2026. Publishing a deep fake without disclosing it carries fines of up to €15 million or 3% of worldwide annual turnover.
A publisher is a deployer under Article 50(4), which requires human-perceptible disclosure — not the machine-readable marking that binds AI providers under 50(2). A label burnt into every derivative is exactly that: visible, fixed, embedded, present at first exposure, and not removable through URL manipulation.
Read the full mapping onto Article 50 →
One config key¶
No URLs change, no services are added, your ENGINE setting is left alone, and labelling
costs well under a millisecond per request.
What it does not do¶
- It only sees what the metadata declares. An AI image arriving with its provenance stripped passes through unlabelled.
- It over-labels, deliberately. Article 50(4) covers only deep fakes and exempts evidently creative work. The plugin cannot judge realism or intent.
- It never writes metadata. Reads only, to decide which label to show.
- It cannot reach a screen reader on its own. The label is pixels; your CMS has to read the meta endpoint and write the alt text.
Where things are¶
| Getting started | Install and minimal configuration |
| Configuration | Policy, detectors, icons, meta endpoint, full reference |
| EU AI Act | What the regulation asks and what this covers |
| How it works | Internals — scanner, detectors, compositing, wiring |
| Extending | Shipping your own detector |
| Contributing | How to help, and what helps most |