Is That Photo Real or AI? Google’s ‘About This Image’ Aims to Help You Tell the Difference
Google wants to help you determine if the photo you see online is real.
EQUAL AI Image Generator And AI-powered photo editing program become more popular, it can sometimes be difficult to know what is authentic and what is not. In the coming months, Google saysA new technology will help with that.
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Called “About this image,” the feature is part of Content Credentials, a technical standard for tracking the origin and history of an online asset. Using metadata in a photo, “About this image” can tell whether it’s an original, software-edited, or AI-generated photo. Google developed the tool in conjunction with the Content Origination and Authenticity Alliance (C2PA), an organization dedicated to addressing issues around AI-generated content.
This feature will be accessible in Google Images, Google LensAnd Circle to search.
When an image with C2PA metadata appears in Search, you can click “About this image” to learn about its origins. Google says its ad system is starting to integrate C2PA, with plans to increase it over time, and use it to enforce its ad policies. The tech giant is also exploring ways to use C2PA on YouTube to communicate information to viewers about how creators create content — for example, the specific camera model they use.
Amazon joined the C2PA committee last weekAgree to associate Content Credentials with content generated by Titan Image Generator and add this tool to AWS Elemental MediaConvert.
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Since Adobe is a founding member of C2PA, Photoshop and Lightroom editing programs add specific metadata, but many programs don’t, so the number of photos in “About this image” programs may be small at first. Also, it seems like you could circumvent Google’s system just by removing metadata from photos, but it’s a good starting point in the fight against misinformation.
