Google Photos will soon label images edited with AI - here's what it'll look like

Google Photos has added several artificial intelligence (AI)-powered editing features over the last few months, and now it's making sure people use that power responsibly.

In a blog post this week, Google announced it will add a note to photos people edited with AI tools such as Zoom Enhance, Magic Eraser, and Magic Editor. "As we bring these tools to more people," Google wrote in a blogpost, "we recognize the importance of doing so responsibly with our AI Principles as guidance." 

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A photo's metadata already contains information that lets you know if someone used Google's AI tools to edit it. Now, a more visible and easier-to-find "Edited with Google AI" note will appear alongside the photo's file name, backup status, and camera info. 

However, there won't be a watermark or anything on the photo, so if someone shares it on social media, via text message, or even in person, the person seeing it will not know that the creator used AI. Even within Google Photos, finding this label still takes a little effort -- something most people don't usually do. Of course, if you're looking to get around this for nefarious purposes, stripping metadata is simple.

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It is possible, though, that social media platforms could use this metadata to provide their own labels. Facebook and Instagram are already doing this to some degree, and so is Google Search. 

In addition to this new label, Google says, it's using International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC) metadata to indicate when someone created an image with non-AI editing tools like Best Take or Add Me.

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John Fisher, Engineering Director for Google Photos and Google One, added that "the work is not done" around AI transparency. He says Google will continue gathering feedback and evaluating even more solutions to clearly disclose AI edits. 

This is far from a foolproof method, and it seems like it's more for the person who took the photo, but it's at least a start towards Google clearing up lines that AI has quickly blurred.