Can you use AI images on Amazon? Amazon’s AI image rules and the synthetic performer tag (2026)

Yes. Amazon has no rule against AI-made product images, but every image must accurately show the product being sold, and images with photorealistic AI-generated people must carry Amazon's AI tag, so you can use AI for lifestyle and infographic images as long as the product in them is your real product.

Amazon's seller blog post "How to use Amazon AI to create product listings" (November 3, 2025) tells sellers who use AI content: "You're responsible for making any changes necessary to ensure your products are accurately represented." Amazon's Product image guide asks the same of every image: it must represent the product you sell accurately and match the product title.

Can the Amazon main image be AI-generated?

The Amazon main product image must be a realistic, professional image of the actual product, so a product redrawn by an image model is a risk even where no rule names AI. Amazon's Product image guide also rules out placeholder images, and Amazon staff repeat the actual-product rule on the Seller Forums.

Product Aura builds the Amazon main image from your photo instead: it cuts your product out and places it on pure white, filling 85% of a 2,000 × 2,000 px frame, so the product shoppers see first is your real product. See the Amazon main image generator.

Does Amazon detect AI images?

Amazon has not published how it detects AI images; its rule asks sellers to tag images themselves. Amazon allows AI images and makes them itself:

• The Amazon Ads image generator, in beta since October 2023, makes lifestyle and brand-themed images from a product an advertiser selects.
• A+ Content Manager has an "AI-generated" option for AI images without people (A+ content guidelines).

Amazon's one AI image rule is the contains-synthetic-performer tag for photorealistic AI people (Product image guide), so the tag is the part to get right.

contains-synthetic-performer is the keyword Amazon requires in the XMP dc:subject field of any image or video that shows photorealistic AI-generated people. When the keyword is in the file, Amazon says it will "add an indicator to inform customers that the image includes AI-generated people, where applicable" (News_Amazon announcement), so shoppers are told and your listing meets the disclosure rule.

Amazon gives the reason in the same post: "Recent legislation requires disclosure when images or videos in advertisements contain photorealistic AI-generated people." Amazon's tagging help page says the tag is there "to comply with jurisdictions that require disclosure of AI-generated people in product media". Amazon names no law.

New York's synthetic performer disclosure law (General Business Law § 396-b, in effect from June 9, 2026) is the likely trigger. That is a reading of the dates, not something Amazon has said.

When did the Amazon AI tag rule start?

Amazon staff say compliance has been mandatory since June 6, 2026; Amazon announced the rule to sellers on the Seller Forums on July 22, 2026. Sources give different dates: June 6 (Amazon staff), June 9 (the New York law), July 22 (the announcement) and July 23 (press reports, such as CNBC). This page uses the staff answer and the announcement.

For older images, Amazon staff say: "For content published before that date, you should retroactively add the metadata following the guidance on the help pages" (Amazon staff answer), so check listings you made before June 2026 too.

Which Amazon images need the AI tag?

Every buyer-facing image or video on Amazon that shows a photorealistic AI-generated person needs the tag, in every Amazon store worldwide. Amazon staff list these surfaces (Amazon staff answer):

• Product listing images
• A+ Content (module sizes: Amazon A+ content image sizes)
• Brand Story
• Product videos, A+ videos, Store videos and advertising videos

A partly shown person counts too. Amazon staff say "if the content still depicts a photorealistic AI-generated human, the metadata should be applied", so a cropped AI model or a realistic AI hand needs the tag.

Which Amazon images do not need the AI tag?

Images of real people, even when edited with AI tools, do not need the tag; neither do images with no people or with people who are not photorealistic. Amazon's announcement lists four cases with no tag:

• Only real people, even if they were altered with AI tools
• Only characters from movies, TV, streaming, documentaries, video games or other expressive works
• No people at all
• No photorealistic people

What happens if you don't tag AI images on Amazon?

Amazon staff say non-compliance "could result in violations and potential ASIN removal" (Amazon staff answer), so a missing tag can cost you the whole listing, not only the image.

Add the keyword contains-synthetic-performer to the image's XMP dc:subject field before uploading, with any IPTC-compatible editor; in A+ Content Manager you can tick the "AI-generated people" box instead, and Amazon adds the metadata for you.

1. Open the image in an IPTC/XMP metadata editor, such as Adobe Bridge, Adobe Lightroom or ExifTool.
2. Add contains-synthetic-performer as a keyword (the XMP dc:subject field).
3. Save the file, and check that the keyword is in it.
4. Upload the file to Amazon.

With ExifTool, one command adds the keyword, and a second one shows it:

exiftool -XMP-dc:Subject+=contains-synthetic-performer image.jpg
exiftool -XMP-dc:Subject image.jpg

The second command prints Subject : contains-synthetic-performer when the tag is in. ExifTool keeps the untouched file as image.jpg_original, so you can go back if something goes wrong.

Outside A+, the file is the only place for the tag: "For non-A+ content, tagging the file before upload is the only option" (Amazon staff answer). Steps for macOS, Windows and command-line tools are on Amazon's How to tag media that contains an AI-generated person help page.

Does Product Aura add the Amazon AI tag automatically?

Yes, Product Aura adds contains-synthetic-performer automatically to every image that shows a realistic AI-made person, such as the in-hand shot, so you do not have to edit files before upload.

• The Settings option "Label AI-generated people for Amazon" is on by default. Turning it off applies to images made afterwards.
• Amazon downloads with such images include a short note on the rule.
• Every Product Aura image also carries the IPTC digital source type, the standard machine-readable "AI generated" label (IPTC): trainedAlgorithmicMedia for fully generated images, and compositeWithTrainedAlgorithmicMedia for images built around your cut-out photo, such as the Amazon main image.

The XMP that Product Aura writes into an image with an AI-made person, shortened:

Iptc4xmpExt:DigitalSourceType="http://cv.iptc.org/newscodes/digitalsourcetype/trainedAlgorithmicMedia"
<dc:subject><rdf:Bag><rdf:li>contains-synthetic-performer</rdf:li></rdf:Bag></dc:subject>

Using AI product images is legal in the EU and US when they are not misleading, but laws now require disclosure in some cases: the EU AI Act's transparency rules apply from August 2, 2026, and New York requires disclosure of synthetic performers in ads from June 9, 2026.

• EU: Article 50 of the EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) sets the transparency rules for AI-generated content, including machine-readable marking. They apply from August 2, 2026.
• New York: General Business Law § 396-b requires ads that use a synthetic performer to disclose it, from June 9, 2026; law-firm summaries put the penalty at $1,000 for a first violation and $5,000 for each later one.

Every Product Aura image carries IPTC "AI generated" metadata, the machine-readable label that supports the EU marking duty, so your files are labelled before they leave Product Aura. This is not legal advice.

Yes. Amazon offers AI image generation to advertisers: the Amazon Ads image generator, in beta since October 2023, makes lifestyle and brand-themed images from a selected product at no additional cost. A+ Content Manager accepts AI images with its "AI-generated" and "AI-generated people" options, so the same tagging rule applies whichever tool made the image.

Other marketplaces set their own AI image rules:

• Walmart: "Images generated by artificial intelligence must be truthful, accurate and not misleading" (Walmart Marketplace Learn, updated May 12, 2026).
• Google Merchant Center: images made with generative AI must keep the metadata that marks them as AI-generated (Merchant Center Help).
• Etsy: AI editing rules for listing photos are on Etsy photo size.

• Amazon image requirements
• Amazon listing image generator
• Amazon A+ content image sizes
• Amazon A+ content generator
• Amazon main image checker
• Product Aura pricing