180 billion+images and videos already watermarked by SynthID
Google has opened Watermark A hidden mark inside a picture, video or sound that shows it was made by AI. Google's version is called SynthID. Detector to people around the world, in English. You upload an image, video or audio clip, and it tells you if it carries a hidden AI label from Google or its partners.
Key points
- How it works: Google and partners hide an invisible watermark inside AI-made files. Google says it has marked more than 180 billion images and videos and 240,000 years of audio this way (Google's October recap).
- It now also checks files made with tools from OpenAI, NVIDIA and Kakao, with Apple support expected soon. Before, the Gemini app could only check content made by Google's own AI (InfoQ).
- It is not a general AI detector A tool that tries to tell whether a text, image, video or sound was made by AI. None of them are always right.. It cannot spot files from Meta or Microsoft, which use different watermarks, and heavy editing can weaken the mark. A 'no clear signal' answer does not prove a file is real.
- Critics on Reddit say a light clean-up of an image can strip the mark. Another approach, C2PA An industry standard that attaches a record of where a photo or video came from and how it was edited, so people can check if it is genuine., saves a file's history as Metadata Extra information saved inside a file, such as when it was made, by which device or app, and how it was changed., but that is lost in screenshots and many uploads.
- Also from Google: Android's AI scam detection already flags more than 5 million suspected scam calls and texts a month. A new opt-in Enhanced protection mode in Google Messages uses Private AI Compute Google's way of running powerful AI in its cloud while keeping your data sealed off so that even Google says it cannot see it. and Gemini to catch scams that unfold over a chat.
Why it matters: Fake photos, voices and videos are a common scam tool. A quick check helps, but a clean result is not proof, so keep checking where a file came from.
Sources (2)
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