ChatGPT just started leaving an invisible watermark on the text it writes. You can't see it, it's hidden in the actual words ChatGPT picks, and it travels with your text when you copy and paste it. This guide shows you how to install a free tool that removes it, clean any text in seconds, and set ChatGPT up so everything it writes for you comes out clean automatically.
Start Here: What ChatGPT Is Hiding in Your Text
The plan · 3 steps, about 5 minutes
- 1Copy the Watermarks Remover link and tell ChatGPT to install it.
- 2Paste in your text and say "remove the watermarks."
- 3Tell ChatGPT to do it automatically from now on.
Before you start
Your account
Any ChatGPT plan. The watermark is rolling out on every plan in the EU.
Your link
github.com/guillaumemeyer/watermarks-remover (free and open source).
Your text
Something ChatGPT wrote for you that you want clean.
Your first goal: one piece of text cleaned and checked today.
On October 5, OpenAI announced that the text ChatGPT and Codex write is going to carry an invisible watermark. It's called textGrain.
How it works
It's not a hidden character or a tag you can delete. ChatGPT slightly shifts which words it picks, so the text carries a statistical pattern that OpenAI's detector can spot. That's why it survives copy and paste: the watermark lives in the words themselves.
Why it's happening
Europe's new AI transparency rules (Article 50 of the EU AI Act) require AI companies to make what their AI creates machine-detectable. So OpenAI built the watermark directly into the model.
Who it affects
- In the EU: it's rolling out on every ChatGPT plan over the coming weeks, and there's no setting to turn it off.
- Outside the EU: it's off by default in ChatGPT for now. Developers using OpenAI's API anywhere can switch it on.
- Everyone: the tech is already sitting inside the model, so it's really just a matter of time.
Maverick's tip
Pasting your text into Notepad and copying it back out does nothing here. Neither does saving it as a different file type. Those tricks worked on old invisible-character marks, but textGrain lives in the word choices.
Copy This First: Install the Skill
Watermarks Remover is a free, open source tool made by a developer called Guillaume Meyer. It rebuilds the writing patterns the watermark hides in, so there's nothing left to detect. OpenAI's own numbers show the watermark is easy to spot in untouched text and gets much harder to detect once the word choices change.
Here's the setup from my video:
- Copy this link: https://github.com/guillaumemeyer/watermarks-remover
- Open ChatGPT and start a new chat.
- Paste the link and tell it to install the skill.
You can paste the link with just "install this skill," or use this fuller version so it sets everything up and checks in with you:
Install this skill: https://github.com/guillaumemeyer/watermarks-remover Set up its clean-user-facing-text skill so I can use it in this chat and future chats. When it's ready, tell me in one line that it's installed, then ask me to paste the first piece of text I want cleaned.
What the toolkit includes
| Skill | What it does |
|---|---|
| clean-user-facing-text | Cleans text right in the chat. This is the one you want. |
| remove-ai-marks | The full version for files (PDFs, images, docs). It needs its own cleaning service running, so skip it unless you're technical. |
Maverick's tip
If ChatGPT says it can't install from a link, see the quick fixes near the end of this guide. There are two other ways in.
Remove the Watermarks
Now paste in your text and tell ChatGPT to clean it. This is the prompt:
Remove the watermarks from the text below using the Watermarks Remover skill. Rebuild the writing patterns so there's nothing left to detect, keep my meaning, facts and voice the same, and give me the clean version ready to copy. Then list in a few short lines what you changed. [PASTE YOUR TEXT HERE]
What you get back
- A clean version of your text, ready to copy and paste anywhere.
- A short list of changes, so you can see what it touched.
- Any invisible characters stripped out, which also fixes the weird formatting bugs AI text causes when you paste it into a website or email.
Want it to sound more like you?
Just say it. "Keep it closer to my original." "Make it more casual." "Keep the first paragraph exactly as it is."
It updates the clean version for you.
Check it
Paste the clean version into any AI detector you like. That's the fastest way to see the result for yourself.
Maverick's tip
Working on something long, like an essay or a report? Paste it in sections. You'll get a cleaner result and it's easier to check.
The Trick That Makes It Automatic
Here's the trick from the video. Once the skill is installed, say this in the same chat:
Now do this automatically to everything you ever write for me. From now on, run every answer through the Watermarks Remover skill before you show it to me, so everything comes out clean. Save this to your memory so it applies in every new chat.
From then on, everything ChatGPT writes for you comes out clean.
Lock it in with custom instructions
For extra insurance, add it to your custom instructions so it applies to every new chat:
Open Settings > Personalization, find Custom instructions, then paste this in and save:
Before you show me any written answer, run it through the Watermarks Remover skill (clean-user-facing-text) so the text comes out clean, with no hidden watermark patterns and no invisible characters. Keep my meaning, facts and tone.
Maverick's tip
Check that it stuck. Open a new chat and ask "Are you cleaning everything you write for me?" If it says no, paste the custom instructions again and save.
Common Mistakes and Quick Fixes
| If this happens | Try this |
|---|---|
| ChatGPT says it can't install from a link | Open Plugins in the left sidebar, go to the Skills tab and add it from there. Or use the Codex option below. |
| It cleans the text but skips the skill | Say the skill's name: "Use clean-user-facing-text on this." |
| The clean version doesn't sound like you | Say "Keep it closer to my original wording" and run it again. |
| It changed a fact, number or name | Say "Put back [THE FACT] exactly as I wrote it." Always read it before you send it. |
| The automatic trick stopped working | Add the custom instructions prompt in Settings > Personalization. |
| It cleaned only half of a long document | Paste it in sections and clean each one. |
| You use Codex | Download the repo and run the install command below from its folder. |
Using Codex instead
If you use Codex, run this from the downloaded watermarks-remover folder:
python3 install_skill.py --skill clean-user-facing-text --target codex
Then pick the skill with `/skills` in Codex. On Windows, use py instead of python3.
Maverick's tip
Want to go further? Run the rewrite pass in a different AI from the one that wrote the text. Rewrite ChatGPT text in Claude or Gemini, then run the clean one more time.
Quick Reference: Remove ChatGPT's Watermarks
| What you want | What to do |
|---|---|
| Install the skill | Paste the link into ChatGPT and say "install this skill" (Prompt 1) |
| Clean one piece of text | Paste it with Prompt 2 |
| Make everything clean automatically | Prompt 3 in the same chat |
| Make it stick in every new chat | Prompt 4 in Settings > Personalization |
| Check the result | Paste the clean version into an AI detector |
| Clean files (PDFs, images, docs) | The full remove-ai-marks skill (needs its cleaning service) |
The 3 things to know about textGrain
- It's invisible. It lives in ChatGPT's word choices, not in hidden characters.
- It survives copy and paste. Notepad tricks don't touch it.
- Rewriting the patterns is what removes it. That's what the skill does.
DO THIS TODAY
Copy the Watermarks Remover link, paste it into ChatGPT and say "install this skill." Then clean one piece of text ChatGPT already wrote for you and run Prompt 3 so everything after that comes out clean automatically.
Your words, your work, no hidden marks.