Google Photos may soon flag AI-generated images

Google Photos has long been a platform where Google flexes its AI capabilities. The app has received many AI features in the past, such as the Magic Editor and, more recently, a new Ask Photos feature. Now, the app appears to be adding another powerful tool to its lineup — a feature that will let users know if the image they’re viewing was generated by AI.

The report comes from Android Authority, which shared a screenshot demonstrating the feature in action. While Google Photos won’t display a prominent notification in the main viewing area, it will add labels to the image’s metadata, informing users if the photo has been AI-generated.

Source: Android Authority

As shown in the screenshot, a new AI info section will be added to the image’s metadata. This section includes two new tags: “Credit” and “Digital source type.” The “Credit” tag identifies who or what AI tool created the image, while the “Digital source type” tag indicates how the image was digitally generated or processed. For example, images created using Google Gemini are typically labeled with the “Made with Google AI” credit tag.

Google Photos will make it easier to identify AI-generated images

In this day and age where AI is increasingly used for fraudulent activities, this tool could be a valuable resource. However, we wish Google would make the AI label more visible, rather than burying it deep in the image metadata, as most users tend to overlook such details.

This feature appears to be built on Google DeepMind’s recently announced AI watermarking tool, which aims to make AI-generated content easier to detect. The report indicates that the info section was seen running on version Google Photos version 7.3, although it’s not official yet. We expect an announcement soon, and this feature should be available to users in the near future.