TLDR: China is set to implement new regulations on AI-generated and synthetic content starting September 1, 2025, requiring both explicit and implicit identifiers. Fengchun Miao, UNESCO’s Chief of Technology and AI in Education, has analyzed these ‘unprecedented’ measures, highlighting their potential global impact and the categorized duties they impose on various AI stakeholders.
China’s Cyberspace Administration is poised to enact a groundbreaking regulatory framework for artificial intelligence-generated and synthetic content, effective September 1, 2025. These new measures, officially titled ‘Measures for Identifying Artificial Intelligence-Generated Synthetic Content,’ mandate the inclusion of identifiers for all AI-created content across various formats, including text, images, audio, video, and virtual scenes.
Fengchun Miao, UNESCO’s Chief of Technology and AI in Education, provided an in-depth analysis of these forthcoming regulations via a LinkedIn post. With nearly two decades of experience in global digital learning and AI policy programs, Miao described the framework as ‘unprecedented.’ He stated, ‘China’s Regulatory framework for identifying AI generated and AI-synthetic content will take effect on 1 September 2025. It might be the first ‘law’ for regulating AI generated content. It will have immediate impact on many business owners and may have far-reaching impact for other countries to catch up.’
The regulations stipulate two primary types of identifiers: explicit and implicit. Explicit identifiers are those clearly perceptible to users, such as text, sound, or graphics, added during the content generation or interactive scene interface. Conversely, implicit identifiers are technical measures embedded into synthetic content files that are not easily perceived by users.
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Furthermore, the framework assigns categorized duties to a wide range of stakeholders within the AI ecosystem. This includes AI platform and application providers, AI application distributors, online content service providers, and end-users. These entities will be required to implement specified methods for adding both explicit and implicit identifiers to AI-generated and synthetic content, covering diverse scenarios from text and audio to video services and unknown formats, as well as metadata files.
