Google opens SynthID to detect AI content, but the tool has limitations

Google has made SynthID available to the public for checking images, videos and audio for an invisible watermark added at generation time. Google says the system has already marked more than 180 billion images and videos and more than 240,000 years of audio. The service can be accessed on its official website or through Gemini, but limits videos to under 90 seconds and offers about 20 queries per day.

Xataka highlights that SynthID is not a universal standard: it cannot read markers from incompatible tools and therefore cannot determine whether content was created with them. The technology is designed to withstand cropping, compression, noise and speed changes, but markers can be removed or degraded. OpenAI, which uses a tool based on Google’s technology, also acknowledges that metadata and watermarks may be manipulated or absent from older models. Adobe, Meta and the C2PA initiative offer similar alternatives.