BadgesLabel AI-generated images

Label AI-generated images

Add an "AI-generated" badge to the product images you created with AI, for example to meet the disclosure rules of the EU AI Act. The badge targets images by their alt text.

The EU AI Act (Article 50) asks businesses to disclose images that were generated or edited with AI when they could pass for real photos. On a product page, you can do this with a LinkSpot badge that appears only on those images.

This article explains the setup. It is not legal advice. Check with your legal advisor which of your images need a label and what the label should say.

How it works

  1. You add a short marker, such as AI-generated, to the alt text of every AI-generated image.
  2. You create one badge that targets images by alt text and looks for that marker.
  3. On the storefront, the badge appears on each gallery image whose alt text contains the marker. Your other images stay unlabeled.

When you add a new AI-generated image later, you only add the marker to its alt text. The badge picks it up without further changes.

Targeting by alt text is available in Growth plan.

Add the marker to the alt text

Pick one marker and use it on every AI-generated image. Keep the existing alt text and add the marker at the end, as in this example.

Linen shirt in sage green, worn by a model on a beach. AI-generated.

To edit the alt text of a product image, follow these steps.

  1. In your Shopify admin, open Products and select the product.
  2. In the Media section, click the image.
  3. Edit the alt text and save.

You can also edit alt text from Content > Files, where Shopify lists your product images together with the rest of your store files.

Choosing the marker

  • The match is case-sensitive. AI-generated does not match ai-generated or AI generated.
  • The marker should not appear in the alt text of your other images. A marker such as AI alone would also match an alt text like "PAISLEY SCARF".
  • Screen readers read alt text aloud. A readable marker such as AI-generated also tells shoppers who use a screen reader that the image was made with AI. A code such as IMG.AI works for the badge, but it is read aloud letter by letter.

Create the badge

  1. In the LinkSpot admin, go to Elements > Badges and create a new badge.
  2. In the Content tab, set Badge type to Text and enter the label in Badge text, for example AI-generated.
  3. (Optional) Add a Tooltip text with more detail, for example "This image was created with AI." Tooltips are available in Growth plan.
  4. In the Placement tab, in the Target products card, choose All products. The alt text match decides which images show the badge, so you do not need to pick products.
  5. In the Gallery placement position card, choose By image alt text.
  6. In Alt text contains, enter your marker exactly as you wrote it in the alt text, for example AI-generated.
  7. In the Product card placement card, keep None selected. See Limitations below.
  8. In the Style tab, pick the corner, size and color. A small badge in a corner that does not cover the product is usually enough.
  9. Save the badge.

Check the storefront

Open a product page that has at least one AI-generated image. The badge appears on the images whose alt text contains the marker, and not on the others.

If the badge does not appear, check the following.

  • Compare the marker in the alt text with the value in Alt text contains. Letter case, spaces and hyphens must match.
  • Check that your theme outputs the alt text on gallery images. LinkSpot reads the alt attribute of the images in the product gallery. Most themes use the alt text you set in Shopify, but a few use the product title instead.
  • Give the storefront a moment to update. See Why changes don't reflect in storefront instantly.

Limitations

  • Product gallery only. The alt text match runs on the product page gallery. Images in other sections, blog posts, emails or product feeds do not get the badge.
  • Product cards. Product card placement does not check alt text. If you turn it on, the badge appears on the card of every targeted product, including products that have no AI-generated images. Keep Product card placement set to None for this badge.
  • Plan changes. On plans without targeting by alt text, the badge falls back to the first image of each targeted product. With All products, that labels the first image of every product. Deactivate the badge from its actions menu in the badges list before you move to a lower plan.
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