Google is balancing creative control for AI tool users against safety and transparency concerns by allowing watermark removal while maintaining invisible SynthID watermarks and C2PA metadata

"We're striking a balance here between creative control and safety. However, both of these require a user to take action like asking a chatbot or uploading to a portal to get to the bottom of things."

"Woodward says the watermark toggle is rolling out just about everywhere, 'except in countries where it's required by law to keep them.' This includes the EU, which recently announced new rules on AI transparency that mandate visible watermarks on any 'authentic-looking' deepfake content."