Google launches new tools for spotting AI images and fake news

Google has announced three new tools in Search to help you find the correct information and avoid getting manipulated. These tools will give more context about the images and sources you find online, helping you tackle all those AI-generated fakes more easily.

About this image launched globally

First announced earlier this year, the “About this image” feature is now available to English-speaking users worldwide. This tool offers an effortless way to verify the credibility and context of images viewed online. Key features include:

• Image History: you can trace when an image first made its appearance on Google Search. This becomes particularly handy when an image related to current events is, in fact, much older than it’s portrayed to be.
• Usage Across the Web: The feature enables you to understand how an image is presented on various websites. It also provides insights from news and fact-checking platforms about the image.
• Metadata Insights: When available, you can access metadata attached to an image by its creators or publishers. This metadata might even indicate if the image was AI-generated or enhanced. Google ensures that all its AI-generated images carry this distinct markup.

Accessing this tool is simple — simply click on the three dots when viewing an image in Google Images or opt for “more about this page” in the search results.

Fact Check Explorer now includes images

Another handy tool, Fact Check Explorer, has gotten an update. It was primarily designed for journalists and fact-checkers, offering a simple way to understand an image or topic. The recent global beta release allowed users to upload images or URLs to see if they’d been previously fact-checked. Since its launch, Google claims that a whopping 70% of beta users have found that these new features drastically cut down their investigation times.

In response to this overwhelming feedback, Google is set to launch a beta of Image Search in the FactCheck Claim Search API. This will empower journalists and fact-checkers to delve into the fact-check image corpus on Fact Check Explorer and seamlessly integrate this data into their platforms.

More information about sources through Search Generative Experience

Those who opt into the Search Generative Experience (SGE) via Search Labs will now see AI-generated descriptions for certain sources. Google will support them with information on high-quality sites that talk about that website. “We’ll showcase links to these sites in the AI-generated description of the source,” Google writes. It’s a useful tool for sources lacking an overview on platforms like Wikipedia or the Google Knowledge Graph. These AI-generated summaries will appear in the “more about this page” section.

The only tricky part is that the reliability of this information depends on the metadata the original users provide. In other words, the original image creators have to opt in to note that their images were AI-generated. Still, Google says its own AI-generated images will always feature the appropriate metadata. At least that’s something.

[via Engadget, Google Blog]

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