How to Use Gemini to Determine If a Video Is Real or AI-generated

Learn how to use gemini to determine if a video is real or ai-generated with clear steps, practical tips, and troubleshooting guidance for a reliable result.

How Gemini detects AI videos

Currently, this feature is limited to videos and images created using Google 's AI tools. Everything created by Google's AI has an invisible watermark that users cannot remove. The SynthID watermark is embedded within all audio, images, and videos created using Google's AI.

The Gemini app scans for SynthID watermarks to determine if content uses AI. Even if a video or image is only edited using AI, the watermark will still be present.

Check out videos created with Google's AI

Start by downloading the video you want to check. You may need a third-party tool or website to do this. Try these tips to download YouTube videos.

Log in to the Gemini app (on mobile or web). Then, click the + button in the chat box to upload your video. The app accepts videos up to 90 seconds long or 100MB in size. After uploading, ask Gemini if the video was created using AI.

Typically, you'll receive a response in less than 30 seconds. What people love most about Gemini isn't just its ability to tell if a video is AI-generated, but also its explanation of why it was created using AI. If a video has a SynthID watermark, Gemini will tell you about it, along with any other indications that the content was created using AI.

To test this, the author downloaded an AI-generated video from Gemini's Veo page and asked Gemini if the video was created using AI. The author received an affirmative answer within seconds confirming that it was AI-generated.

Check for AI elements in any video

While not 100% guaranteed, Gemini can also check any video for AI content. In tests, it performed quite well in detecting videos created with AI by other tools.

You can download a video or paste a link to a video. Sometimes, Gemini gets confused and doesn't understand what the link is for. For example, Gemini mistook a gingerbread village video on YouTube for an AirHead video. You just need to ask again to get the correct result.

The author of this article tested several videos from YouTube. To avoid misleading errors, the author used the following question: 'What is this video about? (YouTube link) and does it use AI? '

Video A was created using AI, and Gemini accurately identified it.

The author also tried another video that definitely doesn't use AI. It was created before the AI era, and its creator is famously known for not using AI, even to this day. Gemini had no trouble explaining why it wasn't an AI-generated video.

Gemini can also check if an image has used AI

You're not limited to videos. Gemini can also check if images use AI. Again, it works best with images created using Google's AI tools, such as Nano Banana.

The process is similar. Upload the image and ask Gemini if the image uses AI.

For both images and videos, Gemini typically tells you whether it's entirely or partially AI-generated. For example, a creator might have used AI to create the background image or video, but then used other tools to manually edit other parts to achieve the final result. This is a hybrid model.