Google is gearing up to fight deepfakes and AI-manipulated media with a new Google Photos tool called “How Was This Made”. As artificial intelligence becomes more powerful, spotting the difference between authentic visuals and digitally altered ones is getting harder. 
This has opened the door for not only harmless entertainment but also scams, manipulation, and explicit fake content – a concern even Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak recently warned about on CBS.
Discovered in an APK teardown of Google Photos v7.41 by Android Authority, the feature will appear in the media details section, clearly labeling whether a photo or video was taken naturally, edited with standard tools, altered using AI, or generated entirely by AI. The system relies on Content Credentials, an emerging standard that embeds a file’s editing history in its metadata. If that data is missing or suspicious, Google Photos will flag it to alert users.
This is especially relevant as AI editing features like Magic Eraser or Reimagine make it easy to transform images beyond recognition. While great for creativity, they blur the line between reality and fabrication. By adding this transparency layer, Google joins a broader industry move toward authenticity markers – with companies like Adobe, Nikon, and Leica already testing similar systems.
Whether “How Was This Made” becomes a widely adopted safeguard or just another underused feature remains to be seen. But in an era where AI-generated content can fool even sharp eyes, it could be a vital step toward rebuilding trust in what we see online.