diff --git a/go.work b/go.work
index 8c7c39cbc95..15a04ac26e8 100644
--- a/go.work
+++ b/go.work
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+// This is a generated file. Do not edit directly.
+
 go 1.22.0
 
 use (
diff --git a/hack/update-go-workspace.sh b/hack/update-go-workspace.sh
index 1142dc147fe..815f2c6bafe 100755
--- a/hack/update-go-workspace.sh
+++ b/hack/update-go-workspace.sh
@@ -37,6 +37,12 @@ rm -f go.work go.work.sum
 
 # Generate the workspace.
 go work init
+(
+  echo "// This is a generated file. Do not edit directly."
+  echo
+  cat go.work
+) > .go.work.tmp
+mv .go.work.tmp go.work
 go work edit -use .
 git ls-files -z ':(glob)./staging/src/k8s.io/*/go.mod' \
     | xargs -0 -n1 dirname -z \