Google is opening its SynthID Detector website to the general public. The web tool identifies images, video and audio clips that were made with AI tools from Google, OpenAI, NVIDIA and Kakao. It is free to use, but visitors must log in with a Google, OpenAI or Apple account. The company had previously limited versions of the tool to journalists and other media professionals.
The site, at synthid.com, is among the first AI detection tools able to identify images created with Apple's AI features, such as Image Playground. Google said support for images created and edited with Apple Intelligence is coming soon. Google has been developing SynthID Detector for more than a year.
Google already offers other ways to detect SynthID watermarks and C2PA content credentials, including its Circle to Search feature and the Gemini app. A dedicated website makes those capabilities easier to reach, particularly for people who do not already use Google's AI tools.
The tool has limitations. It cannot detect all AI-generated content because many companies use different watermarking standards. Watermarks can also be stripped from content in some situations. The site does not distinguish between content created entirely by AI and content that was merely edited with it, so it will not say how a particular item was made or which parts of it are synthetic.
Verifying AI-generated content remains far from foolproof. Detection tools rely on a mix of standards, so no universal checker exists. Meta has been testing its own web tool, which can identify images created or edited with its latest Muse Image models but not those from other companies or its own earlier models.
Google appears likely to add more partners to SynthID over time. The company has said ElevenLabs committed to adding support for the watermarks. On its website, Google says it is continuously working on extending its partnerships to allow detection of more generated media. For US users, the free login-gated tool offers a consumer-facing way to check whether a file carries a Google watermark.
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