With SynthID, Google is cleaning up the AI mess it helped make, but Omni
power makes it clear we'll never get ahead of generative AI fiction

Date:
Thu, 21 May 2026 13:00:00 +0000

Description:
Can the companies that are building truth-bending AI models also be the same ones to help police the fake content?

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Here's the good news: Omni, which was unveiled this week at Google I/O 2026 , is not fast. Now the bad news: its output is insanely good. It'll be hard to tell what's hand-crafted and what's been generated by the multi-talented Gemini Omni .

I guess that's where SynthID comes in. It's now part of the Gemini app and
can assist in image, audio, and video verification. "You can learn about an image's origin by using Search features like Lens, AI Mode and Circle to Search, as well as Gemini in Chrome. Just ask, 'Is this made with AI?' or 'Is this AI generated?'" wrote Laurie Richardson, Google 's VP of Trust and Safety, in a blog post detailing all the SythID updates. Latest Videos From You may like Gemini Omni pushes AI creativity Google Gemini's Verify AI might finally solve my online image trust issues Gemini leads in human-like AI writing as detection tools fall behind But the irony here is as thick as the San Francisco fog rolling in behind the Golden Gate Bridge: lovely to look
at, but also impenetrable. The very same companies building ever-better
models for image, video, and audio generation are also creating the tools
that let us invisibly watermark and/or identify AI-generated content. Imagine Peanut's Pig Pen character trying to use a vacuum on his dust cloud, and you get the idea. Pig Pen could take a bath, but then what would be the point? He has no other name and must remain dirty. Google, OpenAI, Eleven Labs, and others partnering on SynthID can no more stop improving their models and output than Pig Pen can clean himself up. It's not in their DNA. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. The Gemini is out of the bottle (Image credit: Google) It's not that I don't appreciate the
effort. Watermarking AI content is about the only way for us to catch and remove fake images, audio, and video. We know we can no longer trust our eyes and ears, and most of us have been fooled at least once by really good AI.

With models like Omni, those instances are sure to rise, so what else can these companies do but find a way to help us spot generative content?

But doing that, and announcing those efforts in the same breath as they
unveil the mind-bending Omni, which seems able to create almost anything from any input, is disingenuous, to put it lightly. What to read next How does AI video slop get made? I think I finally found out Gemini takes over Google at i/O 2026 'This new search box does not mean that you'll only get AI responses': Google's Search makeover incorporates yet more AI, but Google promises to leave room for classic results

It's like they don't realize they're talking about themselves when they say, "As generative media becomes more advanced and accessible, its helpful to
know where content comes from, and whether its been altered." It comes from you.

Of course, the language here matters, and, notably, they never use the term "fake content" when talking about AI.

Google certainly acknowledges that people are using their models to create generative content, touting its use of C2PA Content Credentials (useful for identifying the provenance of generative and non-generative content), but I don't think it does much to acknowledge that companies like it and OpenAI contribute to our free-floating anxiety when struggling to identify what is real. The allure of the unreal (Image credit: Gemini Onmi) On the one hand, I love powerful models like Omni. I started playing with it today, asking it to create a pair of videos. For one, I fed it a 6-second video of myself and asked it to, among other things, melt me. That arrived in under a minute, though the melt was less than complete. The second is a claymation video on the creation of the combustion engines. It's taking the better part of an hour.

Still, it already feels like a limitless creative tool for breaking down the barrier (lack of artistic or coding skill) between your good idea and output. The power of AI is that you only need a really good prompt to create
something capable of fooling the average human.

As I said, I'm glad SynthID exists, but I realize now it doesn't belong in
one company's hands. Google may have created it, but a third party,
preferably one outside the AI industry and connected to intellectual
property, content verification, and maybe digital media content (possibly a news organization), should probably control its use and development. They might offer a view unavailable to Google and its partners, who are likely
more focused on the next best AI model and not on trustworthy content. (Image credit: Google Gemini Omni) Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/with-synthid-google-is-clean ing-up-the-ai-mess-it-helped-make-but-omni-power-makes-it-clear-well-never-get -ahead-of-generative-ai-fiction


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