Can Google tell if an image was made with AI?

Google Lens will just tell you whether it is AI, I thought? I have seen people say it flags images instantly. I use it to find where my stock photos got copied, and it always gives me an answer.

Lens finds visually similar images. Reading provenance is a different job. It reads a manifest that is embedded in the file, so a stripped copy shows nothing. I would not assume it labels anything on its own.

Does a retouched photo of mine get flagged if I edit it in Photoshop? I am trying to figure out whether normal edits could get a real portrait labeled as AI.

My caution is the opposite one. People hear "Google can check" and treat a clean result as proof of authenticity. Nothing in what Oskar quoted says that. It is a check on one watermark and one metadata record, so silence is not clearance.

@Ivy C. Context. It reports what the embedded record says about how the file was made. It does not rule on whether the scene is true, so quote it as "the credential states" rather than "Google says."

@Oskar Lund thank you, that table is exactly what I needed. Is the "About this image" result a verdict or just context?

@Nina W. A credential from an editing app lists edits made with that app, and whether AI tools were used is recorded in the manifest. A normal retouch is not the same as generation, so read what the credential says before assuming anything.