Google Photos will soon let you know if an image has been altered using AI

Google Photos is all set to get a new feature that will help you determine if an image has been altered using AI tools like Magic Eraser.

Google Photos features several AI powered tools that let you move around people, remove objects and more. (Image Source: Google)

With the rise of AI-powered tools, it can be hard to determine if a photo was generated or edited using the technology. As a result, many companies have started to add synthetic watermarks or labels to images generated by AI, and the latest one to join the bandwagon is Google.

In a blog post, the tech giant recently announced that the Google Photos app will soon start showing if a photo was edited using AI tools. According to John Fisher, the engineering director of Google Photos, since “photos edited with tools like Magic Editor, Magic Eraser and Zoom Enhance already include metadata based on technical standards from The International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC) to indicate that they’ve been edited using generative AI”,

Starting next week, the Google Photos app will show this information alongside other file information like name, location and backup status in the Google Photos app. All of this can be found in a new section called “AI info” in the image details view of Google Photos both in the app as well as on the web.

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Google Photos will soon get a new “AI Info” section. (Image Source: Google)

As you can see in the image above, the ‘Credit’ section under ‘AI info’ will show ‘Edited with Google AI’ to indicate that the image has been altered using the company’s generative AI tools. However, there won’t be a visible watermark on the photo itself, which means if you upload the photo to a social media platform or show it to someone, they won’t be able to determine if it is original or altered.

Google goes on to say that these labels won’t be exclusive to photos edited using generative AI but will also use the “metadata to indicate when an image is composed of elements from different photos using non-generative features”, which refers to the Pixel phone’s Best Take and Add Me functionality.