October 8, 2026

Google opens its SynthID Detector so anyone can check if media is AI-made

Anyone can now upload an image, video or audio clip to Google's SynthID Detector to see whether it carries a watermark from Google or its partners, including OpenAI, NVIDIA and Kakao.

• Google opened its standalone SynthID Detector to everyone, globally, in English, after testing it with journalists and researchers.
• It checks images, video and audio for a SynthID watermark from Google, OpenAI, NVIDIA and Kakao, with Apple support promised soon.
• Google says it has watermarked over 180 billion images and videos and 240,000 years of audio with SynthID.
• A missing watermark does not prove media is real: the tool only finds tags from companies that use SynthID.

Why it matters: Google opened its SynthID Detector to everyone, letting people upload an image, video or audio clip and check it for an invisible AI watermark. The tool finds watermarks from Google, OpenAI, NVIDIA and Kakao, and Apple is expected to join. Google says SynthID has marked over 180 billion images and videos, and its built-in checks already handle over 1 million requests a day. A clean result does not prove media is real, only that no supported watermark was found.