Security camera company Ring has launched a new public tool to help people see if a given video has been edited in some way, including artificial intelligence technology. And while the tool has some limitations, it’s a step in the right direction that all video platforms should work to help us decide what’s realistic in the AI era.
Users can visit the Ring Confirm landing page and upload any Ring video they are interested in. The company describes its program as a “pocket protection brand.” If even one second is planned or interrupted, the “sign breaks,” as it were.
“Ring Verify works on all Ring videos, regardless of which Ring device recorded them,” the company said in a blog post announcing the program. “There’s nothing you can do—it’s automatically added to all video downloads from December 2025 onwards. Whether you’re getting footage from a neighbor, reviewing a video claim, or verifying that a shared video is genuine, you can now ensure that it’s authentic Ring video that hasn’t been tampered with.”
A spokesperson for Ring told Gizmodo that the feature, “is built using the C2PA (Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity) protocol, which aims to prove that content comes from a specific source (Ring), and uses a metadata signature.” That signature only serves to say that something is definitely authentic, and users can’t call anything unverified “fake.” But it’s a handy way to quickly check if a video shared with you has been tampered with.
As The Verge points out, this new tool doesn’t really help in the most commonly used scenario. If you’re wondering if that home security camera video you see on TikTok or Instagram is real, this won’t tell you. And that’s a shame. Because security camera footage is one of the most difficult AI-generated images to analyze when it comes to authenticity.
The usual security camera fisheye warp or night pixelation expected from home cameras is often used to hide the signs that the provided video has been altered. But if you upload a video you found on TikTok or Instagram it may have been edited in some way (either in length or aspect ratio) which will mean that the Verification tool will tell you that it has been edited. However, those changes don’t mean it’s AI.
Google has a digital watermark program called SynthID that has recently become available to all users on Gemini. Uploading an image to Gemini, it will be able to tell you that the image was generated using Google’s AI generator tools. But, again, the power is limited. Just because it lacks an invisible watermark doesn’t mean it’s “real.” It means Google didn’t help create it.
These tools are admittedly not perfect, but at least it’s something for now. Because AI-generated images are becoming more beautiful. And everyone now has to be on their toes. AI fakes aren’t going away anytime soon. And you can no longer believe anything you see on the Internet.
