Google has shared details of SynthID Text, a new tool designed to watermark and detect AI-generated text, which has been released as an open-source.
Available via Hugging Face, developers and businesses can start using SynthID Text to embed watermarks into AI-generated text to make it easier to identify content created by genAI models.
The company hopes its new tool will help prevent misinformation, as well as ensure proper attribution.
Google can now watermark AI text
SynthID Text works by changing the distribution of tokens – the building blocks of AI-generated text, otherwise characterized as groups of letters that make up words or parts of words. Existing AI models already generate text based on probabilities, or guessing which word comes next. All SynthID Text does is change the likelihood of certain words being selected, creating a specific watermark pattern that it can later identify.
Google reckons that the tool can still function after text has been paraphrased or modified slightly, but the company did acknowledge some limitations. For example, short texts, translations and factual responses where there’s little room for variation can limit SynthID Text’s effectiveness. The company also noted thoroughly rewriting a response can “greatly reduce” detector confidence scores.
SynthID Text has already been integrated into Gemini since earlier this year, however Google isn’t the only player in the AI space. OpenAI, which makes the Gemini-rivalling ChatGPT, is unlikely to want to use its competitor’s tool. Instead, it has been exploring its own watermarking technology.
Moreover, it’s unclear how these different systems will interoperate in the future as AI-generated content becomes more widespread on the internet, and whether one system will emerge as an industry standard, or whether legal frameworks will enforce their use.
