Look for Google’s AI disclaimer on photos that look a little too good to be true

We’ve all been using photo filters and related tools for years to make our faces, food, and fall decor look their best. AI tools arguably manipulate photos in fundamental ways far beyond better lighting and red-eye removal.

Google Photos has several generative AI features that can alter an image, but Google will now mark on a photo that you have used these tools in the name of transparency.

Starting next week, all photos edited with Google’s Magic Editor, Magic Eraser, or Zoom Enhance tools will display a disclaimer indicating this fact in the Google Photos app. The idea is to balance out how easy it is to use AI editing tools in ways that are hard to detect by looking. Google hopes the update will reduce any confusion about the image’s authenticity, whether it’s innocent or done with intent.

Google already marks a photo’s metadata if it has been edited with generative AI using technical standards created by the International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC). Metadata is only seen when examining the data behind a photo, relevant only for investigative and record keeping purposes. But the update unearths that bit of metadata to display alongside an image’s more mundane details, like its filename and location.

AI image mania

Google is also not singling out its AI tools for the transparency initiative. All mixed images will have a disclaimer. For example, the Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 9 smartphones have two photo features: Best Take and Add Me. Best Take will merge multiple photos taken together by a group of people into one image to show everyone at their most photogenic, while Add Me can make it look like someone is in a photo that wasn’t there. Since these are in the realm of creating synthetic images, Google decided to give them a tag indicating that they are built from multiple images, though not with AI tools.

You probably won’t notice the change unless you decide to check an image that seems a little too awesome or you want to check everything you see out of an abundance of caution. But professionals will probably appreciate Google’s move because they don’t want to undermine their credibility in a dispute over whether they used AI. Trusting a photograph is not always enough when AI tools are good enough to trick the eye. A tag or lack thereof from Google can increase trust in a photo.

Google’s move points to what could be the future of photography and digital media as AI tools become more common. Doing so is of course also a marketing move. It’s a very small change to Google Photos in many ways, but proclaiming it helps Google look like it’s in charge of AI while actually doing it.

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Look for Google’s AI disclaimer on photos that look a little too good to be true

Kaneb

Kaneb

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