Hoskinson Unveils Free Tool to Strip Anthropic Watermark from Claude Output

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has created a free tool called Anthropies to remove Anthropic's AI watermark from Claude output. The tool was published on GitHub just five days after Anthropic switched on invisible marking across every Claude product, in compliance with the European Union's AI Act transparency code.

The Anthropic watermark is not a hidden character string but rather a secret key that steers tournament sampling, a process used to break ties between words fitting equally well. Hoskinson's repository splits the problem into three layers: prose, images, and code. The tool routes text through a model other than Claude, a step called a non-origin rewrite.

Hoskinson framed the release as a warning rather than a utility, stating that the watermark and co-author line could cause issues down the road. He also attacked the assignment clause in Anthropic's terms of service, which assigns ownership of output to users subject to their compliance with the company's terms. A breach of terms could mean ownership never transferred.