Google releases tools to help users in verifying the accuracy of images

Social media users’ use of context-rich photos and videos has resulted in the spread of harmful false information. Google has announced that, in an effort to stop misleading information from spreading, it will now offer additional contextual information about an image.

Viewing an image’s history, metadata, and the context in which users have used it across many websites are among the new set of features. All English-speaking people worldwide can now access the “About this image” capabilities that Google first revealed earlier this year.

In order to determine how recent a context is, users can determine when the image was first “seen” by Google Search. Users can refute any incorrect claims by using the tool to understand how others viewed the image on other websites.

According to Google, users can view metadata, including fields that identify if an image is artificial intelligence (AI)-generated. According to the company, every image produced by Google AI is marked. Adobe, Nikon, Leica, and other businesses developed a symbol in October to identify AI-generated images.

Clicking the three-dot menu on Google Images results will open the new image tools. The “more about this page” option on the “About this result” tool, which is accessible via the three-dot menu, provides another way to get to it. Google stated that it is looking at more ways to get to them.

Additionally, Google said today that approved media outlets and fact-checkers will have the ability to use the FaceCheck Claim Search API to upload or copy image URLs for further information within their own applications. The business began testing features of the Fact Check Explorer product in June. This makes it possible for fact-checkers to investigate references, fact-checks, and other data related to a certain image.

Additionally, the business is working with generative AI to aid in the description of sources like unknown blogs or seller pages. Users who have enabled Search Generative Experience (SGE) will see AI-generated site information in the “more about this page section,” according to Google. Citations of the page or site on other “high quality” websites will also be included in the created material, it was stated. When Wikipedia or the Google Knowledge Graph don’t have any details or an overview, Google’s AI usually adds it in.

Companies are working on tech to provide more information about images, given the development in technology that has made it simple for people to produce diverse images using generative AI. Adobe released an open-sourced toolkit in June to assist apps and websites in verifying the authenticity of images. In a related move, X has launched Community Notes, its crowdsourced photo and video fact-checking programme.