Google has launched a new feature for its image search engine, which promises to find the original source.
The Google search engine is the most used website in the world; an essential tool for browsing the Internet, and not only because the results are good, but also because of the large number of options it offers.
For example, one of the most useful parts of Google is Google Images , a search engine that, as its name suggests, allows us to find images based on search terms; It is especially useful for finding photos of people, objects or events.
However, in recent years the usefulness of Google Images has been reduced, for reasons beyond Google’s control. For example, the proliferation of fake news has also affected images, and because of the new image-generating AIs , it is becoming more difficult to distinguish reality from fiction every day.
What’s new on Google Images
The new tool announced by Google at the last Google I/O aims to solve this, and is already reaching some users. This is a new tool, called “About this image” , which promises to be able to obtain relevant information about the image, including its origin and the context in which it was taken.
The new option is accessible through the three-dot button that appears when selecting an image in Google Images results, both on mobile and desktop. By selecting the new option, Google will display a variety of information, hoping to help users better understand what is shown in the image. In other words, Google wants to offer context that can help avoid misunderstandings and thus fight misinformation. There are many photos that, out of context, seem to show worse acts than they really are, or that seem to send a different message than the one the photographer intended.
The first piece of information that Google will display with this feature is the date of the first time Google found this image (or a similar image); Therefore, it is possible to see if the image is current, or if it was published years ago (a tactic widely used in disinformation on the Internet).
Google will also offer the view of other pages, apart from the one that first published the image. For example, you can show links to news pages that have verified whether the image is real , or sites that tell the story behind that photograph.
Finally, Google will show the image metadata , the information that is embedded within the photo file when it is taken with a camera or modified; For example, this data may include the date the photo was originally taken, the author of the photo, or the camera with which it was taken. And what happens with the images created by Artificial Intelligence? Unfortunately, Google does not yet have a specific tool capable of detecting them, at least not publicly accessible. This new Google Images feature has probably been implemented in advance, so that in the future Google can offer that feature; but at the moment it is not possible to use Google to find out if an image is fake.
The company itself is aware that this is what users are looking for, and for the moment, it offers some advice. For example, with the new function to view image metadata: all images created by a Google AI will have metadata that indicates this. Additionally, the company has updated its news verification tool , which shows results from pages dedicated to flagging fake news, and it is now possible to search using images.
