Google Photos now watermarks all AI-generated content using SynthID

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The watermark will be invisible, and appear in the meta data for all AI-generated images, audio, text or video

A Google phone
(Image credit: Czapp Árpád)

Last week on February 06, Google announced that its photos app – Google Photos – will start using Synth ID to mark artificial intelligence enhanced images.

The technology will add an invisible watermark to images edited in Google Photos using AI tools like Magic Editor.

Google has already been using SynthID to mark images generated by its image-generation models, including Imagen, and now, the company is expanding the use of Synth ID to Google Photos to help users identify AI-generated content.

Google said: “Starting this week, Google Photos will begin using SynthID (a technology that embeds an imperceptible, digital watermark directly into AI-generated images, audio, text or video) to mark images edited with generative AI using Reimagine in Magic Editor.

“You may have already seen SynthID used to watermark images created entirely by AI — like those made by Google’s text-to-image model, Imagen. This helps people identify AI-generated content quickly and easily.”

The technology allows Google to embed an imperceptible digital watermark on AI affected images, as well as audio, text and video. Users can reveal the watermark by accessing the “About this image” section in Google Photos.

Google’s SynthID technology can detect AI generated or modified content without compromising quality or creative output, and depending on the type of content, it uses different techniques to watermark AI generated or edited media.

The watermark will be invisible, and SynthID will update the image metadata to indicate AI manipulation, whereas Samsung applies a visible watermark when an image is manipulated using Galaxy AI.

Google Photos can only detect and watermark images manipulated within the app at the moment, and it doesn’t yet have the capability to identify whether an image has been edited using other AI based photo editing technology.

Take a look at our guides to the best photo editing software, the best camera phone, and the best professional cameras, and the best google pixel phone.

Leonie Helm
Leonie Helm
Staff Writer

After graduating from Cardiff University with an Master's Degree in Journalism, Media and Communications Leonie developed a love of photography after taking a year out to travel around the world. 

While visiting countries such as Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh and Ukraine with her trusty Nikon, Leonie learned how to capture the beauty of these inspiring places, and her photography has accompanied her various freelance travel features. 

As well as travel photography Leonie also has a passion for wildlife photography both in the UK and abroad. 

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