Google Photos to Show When an Image Was Edited With AI

Starting next week, Google Photos will show when a photo has been edited with Google AI in the app, a step in the right direction after the Pixel 9 series launched with powerful AI editing tools that seriously lacked transparency.

Google, which has remained largely quiet regarding its lack of transparency since launching the Pixel 9 series earlier this year, now says that it “recognizes the importance” of disclosing AI edits to photos, so starting some time next week, it will more prominently show those edits as “edited with Google AI” in the Photos app.

“We often make edits to our photos to make them pop. Sometimes, that means making a simple change to a photo, like cropping it. Other times, it might involve more complex changes like removing unwanted distractions or objects, perfecting the lighting or even creating a new composition. These used to be time-consuming complex tasks, but AI has changed that — powering editing tools like Magic Editor and Magic Eraser in Google Photos,” John Fisher, Engineering Director, Google Photos and Google One, says in a blog post.

“As we bring these tools to more people, we recognize the importance of doing so responsibly with our AI Principles as guidance. To further improve transparency, we’re making it easier to see when AI edits have been used in Google Photos. Starting next week, Google Photos will note when a photo has been edited with Google AI right in the Photos app. Photos edited with tools like Magic Editor, Magic Eraser and Zoom Enhance already include metadata based on technical standards from The International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC) to indicate that they’ve been edited using generative AI. Now we’re taking it a step further, making this information visible alongside information like the file name, location and backup status in the Photos app.”

While Google is using embedded IPTC metadata, it is crucially not using the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) standard that has been published by the Content Authenticity Initiative, which is strange given that Google announced it would join the program last February and it already is implementing it into Search, Ads, and on YouTube.

Adding a note of any kind on photos edited by Google’s AI is nice, but the lack of C2PA means there will still be issues with uploading AI-edited photos to Meta social networks, for example. It’s an oddly disjointed rollout of transparency.

“In addition to indicating when an image has been edited using generative AI, we will also use IPTC metadata to indicate when an image is composed of elements from different photos using non-generative features. For example, Best Take on Pixel 8 and Pixel 9, and Add Me on Pixel 9 use images captured close together in time to create a blended image to help you capture great group photos,” Fisher adds.

While a nice addition and a step in the right direction, considering that most of the photos published online live outside of Google Photos, there is more work to be done. Google says it is “evaluating additional solutions” to add more transparency to AI edits, but stops short of specifically saying it be joining the rest of the industry by fully implementing C2PA.

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos. All others are courtesy of Google.