What does “AI modified” mean on Pinterest?
Pinterest shows “AI modified” on image pins that it believes were generated or changed with AI. The label sits in the bottom-left corner of the pin and appears when someone opens the pin in close-up view.
Pinterest uses two kinds of signal to decide. The first is metadata inside the image file, such as the IPTC Digital Source Type field that editing apps fill in. The second is Pinterest’s own image classifiers, which look at the picture itself. This page and the tool above deal with the first signal.
Why did my real product or craft photo get the label?
Makers and product photographers see this often, because the usual fixes for a product shot are now done with AI: removing dust, extending a background to fit the tall 2:3 pin format, or replacing a messy table with a plain surface.
A handmade mug photographed on your table can be tagged as edited with AI because you removed a cable from the background. In IPTC terms the file says compositeWithTrainedAlgorithmicMedia, which means a real photo combined with AI edits, not an image generated from scratch. The label describes the file, not your camera, and the scan above shows exactly which tag your photo carries.
Many editing tools write an AI tag into the file even when AI changed only a small part of the picture:
- Photoshop and Lightroom: Generative Fill, Generative Remove and AI Denoise
- Adobe Firefly and Adobe Express
- Canva Magic tools
- Google Photos Magic Editor and Samsung Galaxy AI edits on phones
- Apple Clean Up on iPhone
Can I turn off “AI modified” in my Pinterest settings?
No. Pinterest has no switch that lets creators hide the label on their own pins.
The setting people often find is a different thing. Under Settings, Refine your recommendations, GenAI interests, and with the option to see fewer AI pins, you choose how many AI pins appear in your own feed. It changes what you see. It does not remove labels from your pins, and it does not change what other people see on them.
How to check a photo before you pin it
Clean every image before it reaches Pinterest, including the images on your own site. If you create pins from your shop or blog, the pin uses the image file from that page, so replace that image with the clean copy too.
By default the tool removes AI tags only and keeps camera details, location and the color profile, so product colors stay exactly as you edited them. If you shoot products at home, consider the privacy option, which also removes the GPS location. Then:
- Drop the exact images you plan to pin, for example a whole product range. JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC and AVIF work.
- Read which app wrote each tag. If no tags are found, the file is already clean, and a label would come from Pinterest’s classifiers instead.
- Tap “Delete AI label” and download the clean copies, or a ZIP for a batch. Upload those to Pinterest and to your shop or blog.
My pin already says AI modified. What can I do?
A file tool can’t change a pin that is already published. Pinterest has an appeal process for labels that people believe are wrong, so start there, especially if the photo is real and the AI edit was minor. In the appeal, say what the photo shows and which edit you made, for example that you removed a small object with an AI tool.
If the appeal does not help, you can delete the pin, clean the original file and pin it again. The new pin starts from zero, so you lose its saves and comments. For pins that bring steady traffic, weigh that cost first.
How to keep your next product photo untagged
The easiest file to clean is one that never got the tag. Before your next product shoot or craft photo:
- Photoshop and Lightroom: Adobe says that since August 2026 its apps attach Content Credentials automatically after generative AI edits, so the export setting may not keep them out. Check each export before you pin it.
- Keep a version of the photo from before the AI step, so you can choose which one to publish.
- For dust or a small object, consider a classic clone or healing tool instead of a generative one. The AI tags come from the AI features.
- Google AI tools add an invisible SynthID watermark that has no off switch, so if you used one, check the export here: cleaning removes the SynthID mark along with the tags.
What cleaning the file can’t change on Pinterest
Pinterest has said it combines file metadata with its own classifiers. Cleaning removes one of those signals, not both, so the result depends partly on how the picture looks.
Removing metadata affects the signal that is read from the file, and cleaning also takes out the invisible SynthID watermark in the pixels. What stays outside its reach:
- Pinterest’s classifiers, which look at the picture. A clean file can still be labeled if the image looks AI-made to them.
- Labels on pins that are already published.
- Invisible watermarks in the pixels, such as Google’s SynthID, are the exception: cleaning removes those along with the tags.
When should you keep the AI modified label?
If a pin shows a product or scene that was fully generated by AI, keep the label. Shoppers use pins to decide what to buy, and they should know when an image is not a photo. This tool is for real photos that were tagged because of an editing step. Three questions help you decide:
- Was the image generated from a prompt rather than photographed? Keep the label.
- Does it show a product or result that does not exist in real life? Keep the label.
- Is it a real photo of your real product with a small AI fix? The label overstates the edit, and cleaning the file is reasonable.