Google removes optional visible watermarks from AI-generated images, videos, and music

Google is allowing users to remove visible watermarks from AI-generated images, videos, and music produced in its Gemini and Flow tools. A new "Media watermark" setting can be toggled off in the interface, which removes the "sparkle" watermark that appears in the bottom-right corner of content generated by the company’s Nano Banana and Omni models.

The change does not eliminate provenance tracking entirely. Google will continue embedding invisible SynthID watermarks and C2PA metadata into AI-generated outputs, enabling verification through Gemini or Search. According to Josh Woodward, vice president of Google Labs, Gemini, and AI Studio, these invisible markers remain embedded regardless of the visible watermark setting.

The toggle will not be available in countries that legally require visible watermarks, indicating that Google is adapting to regional compliance needs. The update follows user behavior where many already edited out visible watermarks manually, and aligns with practices from other major AI developers like OpenAI and Meta, which rely on invisible watermarking standards such as SynthID and the Content Seal.

Anthropic also announced this week that it is applying invisible watermarks to both AI-generated text and images, underscoring a broader industry shift toward technical provenance solutions rather than visible indicators.