With AI becoming more advanced, people are increasingly depending on the tools to streamline their tasks and organize their everyday lives. However, with the greater capabilities, it has become harder to tell apart the real from the artificial, leaving many to use the technology otherwise. We see more deepfakes being circulated around, which might appear to be harmless entertainment, but they are now being used for manipulation, scams, and explicit content. Steve Wozniak highlighted these internet scams in a CBS appearance, cautioning the community to be more vigilant. Google understands the growing concerns and will soon help you spot edited photos using artificial intelligence.
Google Photos' upcoming "How Was This Made" feature could redefine digital image transparency
Google Photos is said to soon roll out with a new feature called "How Was This Made," aimed to help users quickly identify photos or videos captured naturally, modified using editing tools, or created by artificial intelligence. This was discovered during an APK teardown via Android Authority of the Google Photos version 7.41, and the feature would be coming as a dedicated section for video or image details. It will clearly signal if the media has been captured with a camera, edited with non-AI tools, edited with AI tools, or completely created using AI.
This feature would work by using Content Credentials, which is gaining momentum as an industry standard that embeds an item's editing history into its metadata. In the case of missing information or alterations, Google Photos would flag them for users to let them know if there is ambiguity regarding the media. This update is crucial, especially when AI editing tools, such as Magic Eraser or Reimagine, have become increasingly common and can transform images completely.
While such AI editing advancements allow for serving creative purposes more efficiently, they can also make it hard to distinguish authentic content from digitally modified content. With the help of this new feature, Google would be bridging the trust gap and would have more important safeguards in place that are vital in today's rapidly growing and AI-driven media. We see the tech giant following what seems to be an industry-wide trend of authenticity markers, as companies like Adobe, Nikon, and Leica are already experimenting with it.
"How Was This Made" has the potential to be a building block for digital transparency standards, but it remains to be seen whether the efforts will translate into increased awareness and adoption, and if other platforms also choose to show respect for content authenticity labels.
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