EmTrace · File intelligence
See what your files reveal, and which AI tools made them.
Photos, documents, decks, audio and video carry far more than their content: the device and software behind them, the people and accounts that touched them, and often the AI tool that produced them. EmTrace reads it in seconds and explains it in plain language, before anything is shared.
- Made with
- Document properties match the defaults of python-pptx, which suggests the file was produced by code.
- People
- An author name is stored in the file.
- Hidden content
- Speaker notes on every slide.
- Content Credentials
- None found. A missing credential proves nothing about how a file was made.
From our research
- 134–219embedded metadata fields in each unedited iPhone photo in our sample libraryWhat a phone photo says
- 21 of 41AI image tools whose makers say they add Content CredentialsWhich AI tools mark their work
- 6 of 10platforms that name Content Credentials among the signals they read for AI labelsHow platforms label AI content
October 2026. Each figure is sourced and dated in the analysis it links to.
Shadow AI leaves fingerprints
When people use AI tools their organization has not provided, the work they bring back can say so. Images from the major AI tools increasingly carry a signed record of how they were made. Documents written by AI assistants can keep the default settings of the code that produced them. Some files carry account identifiers, prompts or the name of the organization they were made for.
EmTrace reads those traces and shows which tools a file passed through and what it would reveal about the people and organization behind it. It reports what a file says about itself; it does not judge whether content is AI-generated, and a file without traces proves nothing.
- Security and ITSee which AI tools the files moving through your organization say they came from, including tools nobody approved.
- Communications, marketing and legalCheck provenance, AI labels and disclosure signals before content is published, and know what each platform says it reads.
- Everyone who shares filesSee what a file reveals about you or your organization, and make a clean copy that removes only what you choose.
EmTrace for enterprises
Know what your files say before anyone else does.
We build custom EmTrace solutions for organizations, shaped to how your teams create, review and share their work.
- Identify shadow AISee which AI tools the files moving through your organization were made with, including the ones nobody approved, so AI risk is visible before it becomes an incident.
- Protect the brandCatch the tracked change, the forgotten speaker note, the author name or the AI fingerprint before it turns a client deliverable or a public release into an embarrassing moment.
- Control what leavesDecide what travels with every file. Remove location, device, people and hidden content, then confirm the copy is clean, so only what you intend to reveal leaves your organization.
Insights
- AnalysisShadow AI Leaves Fingerprints: The Floppy Disk Lesson, RevisitedUnsanctioned AI use is often described as invisible unless an organization monitors its network or surveys its people.
- AnalysisWhat an iPhone Photo Says Before You Share ItUnedited iPhone photos in EmTrace's sample library each carried between 134 and 219 embedded metadata fields, describing the device, lens, software and time.
- AnalysisWhich AI Tools Mark Their Work, and HowMost major AI image tools now say they sign their output with Content Credentials, add an invisible watermark, or both, and text watermarking has begun.
- AnalysisHow Platforms Label AI Content, and What They Say It ChangesThe major platforms label AI content from what the poster discloses and, on several, from signals in the file such as Content Credentials or IPTC metadata or from their own detection.
Reference
What a check covers
- Privacy details
- Location, device and serial numbers, names, account IDs and other personal information saved in the file.
- Content Credentials and AI signals
- Whether the file carries a signed credential, whether it verifies, and any unsigned labels or tool fingerprints that say how it was made.
- Editing traces and “Made with”
- The apps, devices and code libraries the file names, ranked by how reliable each source is.
- Hidden content in documents
- Speaker notes, comments, tracked changes, hidden slides and sheets, earlier versions inside PDFs, unapplied redactions, links and embedded files.
- Clean copies and comparison
- Remove what you choose and check the copy again, or compare two versions of a file field by field.
Supported files: JPEG, PNG, WebP and HEIC; MP4 and MOV; M4A, MP3, WAV and FLAC; PowerPoint, Word and Excel; PDF.
Plans
Try two checks without an account. A free Eminence account adds monthly checks, comparison and exports. EmTrace Pro adds more checks, privacy-clean copies and larger files.
Enterprise
Custom solutions for organizations that need to find shadow AI, protect their brand and control what leaves. Enterprise options or write to egsconnect@eminencegrowthsolutions.com.
Your files
Files are processed only to produce your report and are then deleted. Nothing is kept to build a library, and nothing is used to train AI models. Files, privacy and terms.
Check a file before it leaves your hands.
Open EmTrace