Google Allows Users to Remove Visible Watermark from AI-Generated Content

Google announced on Friday that it will allow users to remove the visible watermark from its AI generations, including images, videos, and songs, but specified that this won't affect the invisible SynthID watermark and C2PA standard-related metadata. Josh Woodward, VP for Gemini, said in a post on X that the toggle will be available for Nano Banana, Omni, and Lyria models, and will be found in settings under 'Media Watermark' in Gemini and Google's video editor Flow, with support for Search coming soon. The change reflects an evolving approach to labeling AI-generated media, as visible watermarks can make content less useful for professional and creative work, but the need to identify AI-generated content remains. Woodward stated they are striking a balance between creative control and safety: while visible watermarks are now optional, invisible SynthID watermarks and C2PA metadata are still used for transparency, so users can still use Gemini or Search to see if an image was AI-generated. The feature rolls out in the coming days. Additionally, Google is open-sourcing a new library called Credentio to let developers embed a local validation mechanism in their apps. This comes after Anthropic's hotly debated move to include a watermark in text and files generated by Claude to comply with EU regulations.