AI photo fields separate a prompt from authorship
IPTC’s 2025.1 update gave image desks more descriptive detail, with limits that matter in reuse.
- Event / announcement date
- 2025-11-27
IPTC’s November 27, 2025 update added fields for the system, version, prompt and prompt writer. The last is not an image-creator credit. [1]
The specification permits positive and negative statements in prompt information, while the system-version field records a version if known. These are descriptive records of a generation workflow, not a requirement to invent missing technical detail. [2]
IPTC’s user guide recommends leaving the Image Creator field empty for generated images and using Digital Source Type to identify their origin. It also replaces its earlier recommendation to put tool and prompt-writer details in Contributor fields. A desk reading older files needs to recognize the earlier convention rather than assume every absent new field means no AI was used. [3]
Adding the fields to IPTC’s sample invalidated that image’s C2PA metadata. It exposed a workflow distinction: describing generation and preserving an existing provenance record are different tasks. This is one example, not a universal claim about metadata edits. [1]
The source
- IPTC: Photo Metadata Standard2025.1 adds AI properties ↗
Source date 2025-11-27 · reviewed October 29, 2026 - IPTC: IPTC Photo Metadata Standard2025.1 ↗
Undated reference · reviewed October 29, 2026 · No publication date is given on this reference. - IPTC: Photo Metadata User Guide ↗
Undated reference · reviewed October 29, 2026 · No publication date is given on this reference.
About this item: Retrospective report. No first-hand reporting or independent testing is claimed. Corrections policy.
