Ask Gemini if a picture was made by AI, explained by monkey

Google puts an invisible watermark, called SynthID, into images, videos and audio made with its AI. You can't see or hear it, but Gemini can look for it. So when a picture looks too wild to be true, you can just ask Gemini whether Google's AI made it.

How to check a picture

• Open the Gemini app, or gemini.google.com, signed in to your Google account.
• Tap + (Add files) and pick the picture. It can come from your phone, Google Photos or Google Drive.
• Ask: "Is this AI-generated?" or "Was this made or edited with Google AI?"
• Gemini tells you if it found the stamp.

It works on videos and audio too

• Upload a short video and ask "Is this a real video?" Gemini says which parts carry the stamp.
• Videos must be under 90 seconds, audio under 1 hour, and any file 100 MB or less.
• You get about 10 checks of each kind (picture, video, audio) per 24 hours.
• Checking a screenshot? Crop it tight around the picture. Collages confuse it.

What "no stamp" means

• Google's help page says Gemini can currently only recognize content made with Google's own AI tools.
• So "no stamp found" means Google's AI probably didn't make it. Another company's AI still could have.
• For other AI, Google's separate SynthID Detector site (synthid.com) also reads stamps from partners Google names: OpenAI, NVIDIA and Kakao, with Apple announced.
• Still unsure? Check who posted it first, and do a reverse image search.

Sources: Gemini Apps Help, "Verify AI-generated images, videos, and audio" (support.google.com/gemini/answer/16722517); Google blog, SynthID expansion (Oct 7, 2026); Android Authority on Gemini's video check; Google's October 2026 AI roundup (Nov 2, 2026).

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