New Google feature lets you check whether a photo is original or edited — here's how

Jakarta — CNBC Indonesia reports that Google Search and Google Chrome users will find it easier to recognise AI-generated images. In a Google I/O announcement, the tech giant said it is expanding its AI-detection tools into those products. Previously, AI-detection tools were available in the Gemini app. The watermarking system is invisible; SynthID has been in trial for years and was released to the public at the end of 2025.

“We are adding content-credentials verification across all products. This will show the provenance of content, whether it originates from AI or a camera, and whether the content has been edited with generative AI tools,” said Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, cited by CNET on Wednesday, 20 May 2026.

SynthID will verify the authenticity of images shared by users. The Gemini app will inform users of the origin of the image. Pichai explained that SynthID is used on more than 100 billion images and videos and 60,000 years of audio assets. Additionally, millions of people are said to be using the AI detector within the Gemini app.

With the expansion, users can use Circle to Search to query whether an image came from AI or not. Users can also right-click on online images and then ask whether they were generated by AI.

Google is also expanding SynthID usage to identify content beyond Gemini-created content. This is being done in collaboration with several companies, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and the AI voice generator ElevenLabs. “We hope to broaden collaborations with more partners and to implement transparency standards in the AI era,” he said.