Google shares a plan to help users identify AI generated images, videos on Search

Google to help detect AI generated images: Google is trying to be more transparent about the images that have been generated or modified using generative AI-based tools. Earlier this year, the company had announced that it will add a digital watermark to the pixels in an image, which will help in identifying if the image has been generated using AI. Now the company has announced that it will soon roll out a new feature called 'About this Image' to Google Search that will help users in identifying if an image has been created or altered using generative AI-based tools.

For the unversed, Google had first announced the 'About this Image' feature alongside the 'Find Image Source' feature in July this year. While the 'Find Image Source' feature is aimed at helping users identify all the sites that used a particular image and the way the image has been used, the 'About this Image' feature is aimed at showing the image's metadata containing details about the 'creator of the image and how that image may have been created'. While former is available Search shows, the company is yet to roll out the latter to its users.

It is worth noting that this announcement comes at a time when Google and other steering members of the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) alliance have released version 2.1 of the technical standard for Content Credentials. Content Credentials and the forthcoming C2PA True List will help platform to identify details about the origin of an image.

"Provenance technology can help explain whether a photo was taken with a camera, edited by software or produced by generative AI. This kind of information helps our users make more informed decisions about the content they’re engaging with — including photos, videos and audio — and builds media literacy and trust," Google wrote in a blog post.