Kakao (035720.KS) has become the first Asian company to adopt SynthID, a digital watermarking solution developed by Google DeepMind. The company plans to apply the technology to its proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) model “Kanana” to accelerate the development of a responsible AI ecosystem.
Kakao announced Thursday that it had signed a technology partnership with Google DeepMind to ensure the transparency of AI-generated content.
SynthID is a digital watermarking and detection technology developed by Google DeepMind. It embeds digital watermarks imperceptible to the human eye and ear in images, text, audio and video, enabling verification of whether content was generated by AI. The technology has drawn attention as a tool for countering the misuse of AI-generated content such as deepfakes and disinformation, as it can trace AI generation without compromising quality.
Through the collaboration, Kakao has laid the groundwork to embed and track watermarks in AI-generated content by applying SynthID to Kanana. Starting in the second half of this year, SynthID watermarks will appear on AI-generated content produced by the image model “Kanana Collage” and the video model “Kanana Kinema.”
Kakao first plans to apply the SynthID watermark to “Kanana Template,” a feature that uses images exchanged on KakaoTalk to create short AI-generated videos. While videos generated through Kanana Template will display the Kanana logo by default, the application of SynthID will allow the AI origin of the content to be identified even if the output is edited or reprocessed.
“As AI technology rapidly spreads into daily life, the importance of securing transparency and reliability in AI-generated content is also growing,” said Kim Kyung-hoon, AI Safety Leader at Kakao. “Starting with the application of SynthID, we plan to continue technological cooperation with Google in the area of responsible AI and provide safe AI services that users can use with confidence.”
“Effective collaboration is essential for identifying AI-generated content,” said Pushmeet Kohli, Vice President of Science and Strategic Initiatives at Google DeepMind. “Through partnerships with industry-leading companies, we are expanding SynthID technology to more platforms, taking an important step toward building a more transparent digital ecosystem for everyone.”