SenseDefend

Synthetic-media instruments, by article and effective date

Sora and Pika on what the file itself is said to carry

The gap between these two is the gap between the kinds of document they were read from. One vendor published a paper about behaviour; the other published a price list, and a price list has no reason to mention metadata. As of 2026-09-12.

The gap may be publication rather than productA vendor can write a manifest into every container and never say so. That would be a real mark and an unusable one, because nobody can cite it, plan around it or show it to a client who is asking.What does an undocumented mark do for a reader?It may well existNothing citableNo address, no wording, no date, nothing toshow anybody who asksIt is described on a pageA quotable statementA named standard, a stated scope and areading date under the entryWhy the record says not documented rather than not marked
Fig. 1 This pair establishes which vendor published enough to be read against a clause, not which product marks its output.
Which columns the source fillsFilled where the page behind the row names something in that column, hollow where that page is silent. Silence is recorded rather than filled in.Which columns the source fillsOpenAI SoraPikaWhat the marking row holdsWhat the marking row holds — OpenAI Sora: C2PA metadata on all assets, given as verifiable originWhat the marking row holds — Pika: Not documented on the vendor's pagesKind of page it was read fr…Kind of page it was read fromKind of page it was read from — OpenAI Sora: A system card, written to describe behaviourKind of page it was read from — Pika: A pricing page, written to sell a subscriptionWhat a reader can citeWhat a reader can cite — OpenAI Sora: A named standard and a stated scopeWhat a reader can cite — Pika: A feature that removes a visible mark from a price upward
Fig. 2 Filled where the page behind the row names something in that column, hollow where that page is silent. Silence is recorded rather than filled in.
OpenAI Sora and Pika on the same column, point by point. Recorded 2026-09-22 and 2026-09-12.
PointOpenAI SoraPika
What the marking row holdsC2PA metadata on all assets, given as verifiable originNot documented on the vendor's pages
Kind of page it was read fromA system card, written to describe behaviourA pricing page, written to sell a subscription
What a reader can citeA named standard and a stated scopeA feature that removes a visible mark from a price upward

Inclusion rule. Two entries whose published answers to one column pull in different directions. Cells hold each vendor's own wording from the page its entry names; pairs that agree on the column are not filed at all. Order. Fixed order, and the two columns are in the order the heading gives them.

1The difference may be publication, not product

A vendor can write a manifest into every container and never say so. That would be a real mark and an unusable one, because nobody can cite it, plan around it or show it to a client who is asking.

So this pair does not establish that one product marks and the other does not. It establishes that one has published enough to be read against a clause and the other has published a price list.

2What a system card offers that a plan table cannot

A card lists measures in sentences, under a heading about provenance, with scope attached. Every part of that is quotable. A plan table offers presence and absence in a grid, and absence in a grid means not listed.

The register keeps that difference on its own row for both entries, because otherwise sixteen cells look like sixteen comparable positions when several of them are inferences about packaging.

3Where this leaves a production using either

With the first, a machine-readable layer is documented and the deployer disclosure is still the publisher's to arrange. With the second, neither layer is documented and a visible mark is priced.

Both leave the publisher owing the same thing. The difference is how much evidence the publisher can assemble about what their files contain, which matters only when somebody asks.

  • OpenAI Sora (openai.com)
    C2PA metadata on all assets, listed as providing verifiable origin through an industry standardfirst item under provenance safety toolingSora 2 System Card, OpenAI / recorded 2026-09-22
  • Pika (pika.art)
    Watermark-free download is not listed on the free plan or on the $8 Standard planan AI video generatorPika, pricing / recorded 2026-09-12

4Sources

Read from the Sora 2 system card at cdn.openai.com and the pricing page at pika.art, consulted 2026-09-22 and 2026-09-12. Full entries: OpenAI Sora and Pika. The column itself is on What it asks for. Other pairs on file: Firefly and ElevenLabs, Nova Reel and Designer.