docs/detector/meta.md

# Metadata Analysis for Image Edit Detection

This module inspects image metadata to detect possible signs of AI-generation or post-processing edits.

## Overview

- Many AI-generated images and edited images leave identifiable traces in their metadata.
- This detector scans image EXIF metadata and raw bytes for known AI generation indicators and common photo editing software signatures.
- It classifies images as `"ai_generated"`, `"edited"`, or `"undetermined"` based on detected markers.
- Handles invalid image formats gracefully by reporting errors.

## How It Works

- Opens the image from raw bytes using the Python Pillow library (`PIL`).
- Reads EXIF metadata and specifically looks for the "Software" tag that often contains the editing app name.
- Checks for common image editors such as Photoshop, GIMP, Snapseed, etc.
- Scans the entire raw byte content of the image for embedded AI generation identifiers like "midjourney", "stable-diffusion", "openai", etc.
- Returns a status string indicating the metadata classification.

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