Google's cross-model AI detection tool is finally available for all

Google and OpenAI have long allowed users to check media for SynthID watermarks. The presence of these watermarks almost guarantees that a media file was generated by AI. However, one major downside is that you need to use Gemini or OpenAI’s website to verify content. Google also has a dedicated SynthID Detector tool, but this has been limited to select testers for over a year now. Thankfully, that’s changing today.

Google has announced that the SynthID Detector portal (accessible at synthid.com) is now available to all users globally, allowing them to check whether a picture, video, or audio file was created or edited with AI. Furthermore, Google says this portal can detect SynthID watermarks created by itself, OpenAI, NVIDIA, Kakao, and “soon” Apple. That’s a welcome change from initial SynthID detection tools. For example, Gemini can only detect watermarks made with Google AI tools, while OpenAI’s verification website can only detect SynthID signatures made with OpenAI tools.

The company previously said that SynthID Detector goes a step further by highlighting specific parts of an image or video that have the SynthID watermark.

Anyone can log onto synthid.com using their Google, Apple, or OpenAI account to scan uploaded media files. I really hope the platform eventually offers the ability to sign in via an email account, though. After all, tech companies should be making it as easy as possible to check for AI-generated files. Right now, you’re out of luck if you want to verify a file without a Big Tech account.

We asked a Google representative about alternative login options and the possibility of authenticating files without logging in. However, they reiterated that you can only log in via a Google, Apple, or OpenAI account.

Nevertheless, this is a big step forward for media verification in the age of generative AI. This news also comes shortly after Anthropic announced that Claude can now add watermarks to AI-generated text. So our fingers are crossed for more AI services to embrace this verification tech.