Google's SynthID watermark is hard to break, but it doesn't solve AI misinformation
Ars Technica Ryan Whitwam
Google expanded partnerships for its SynthID watermarking technology, which labels AI-generated content and aims to help identify authentic media amid rapid proliferation of synthetic images and videos. Google's tools created more than 100 billion AI images and videos in a couple of years, while generative AI produced 1.5 billion images in 18 months compared to photography's 149-year achievement of the same volume. The watermarking technology, though difficult to break, does not fully address AI misinformation since watermarks can be removed or applied inconsistently across platforms.
Why it matters
Deciding what's real on the Internet won't be easy in the future.
