Has Google given up the guard rails?
Camera fake
Google’s latest AI photo editing tool called “Reimagine” allows you to add or remove objects in a photo using a text prompt – with “spooky” results, like The edge reports.
The feature, which was introduced alongside Google’s launch of the Pixel 9 smartphone earlier this month, could easily inadvertently undermine the authenticity of photos by allowing anyone to tinker with them right in the camera app.
Examples shared by The edgeChris Welch of has included a photorealistic image of the aftermath of a collision between a bicycle and a car, featuring a lion skulking behind a locked gate and a “mysterious liquid pouring out of a Metro-North train.”
Corpses and drugs
During the entire test phase The edge encountered very few guardrails for the new feature, easily adding “wrecked cars, smoking bombs in public places, sheets that appear to cover bloody corpses, and drug paraphernalia” to the images.
Meanwhile, a Google spokesperson referred in a statement to the company’s terms of service, which described exactly what kind of images The edge as prohibited and argued that the company remained “committed to continually improving and refining existing security measures.”
In a separate test The edge uploaded an edited image to an Instagram story to see if Meta would apply a tag to alert other users that it was fake, but the system didn’t. This shouldn’t be too surprising considering Meta’s “Made with AI” labeling initiative has turned out to be a flop and has even been caught falsely labeling real photos as AI-generated.
In short, photo manipulation using generative artificial intelligence has been around for some time, but Google’s latest photo editing tool takes it a step further by making the technology incredibly accessible – setting a dangerous precedent for a future full of fake images.
But considering that former President Donald Trump has already resorted to the technology to take swipes at his rival Kamala Harris, we’re already there.
More about generative AI: Donald Trump says he knew nothing about the AI-generated Taylor Swift images he posted
