Updated

Updated · Tech Advisor · Jul 13

Google Adds 15GB-Saving Android Backup Controls as July Play Update Expands Drive Document Copies

Updated

Updated · Tech Advisor · Jul 13

Google Adds 15GB-Saving Android Backup Controls as July Play Update Expands Drive Document Copies

Q: If Google’s new AI label misses some images, could it unintentionally legitimize the most sophisticated deepfakes?

Yes. If Google’s new AI label fails to tag some AI-made images, especially the most polished deepfakes, the absence of a label could be read by users as an informal sign of authenticity. That risk is built into any imperfect labeling system. Google’s July update itself says some formats and older images may not yet support the AI tag, which means coverage is incomplete from the start. In practice, users often treat platform labels as trust signals: labeled content looks suspicious, unlabeled content looks normal. If advanced deepfakes are the ones most likely to evade detection or metadata-based labeling, they may benefit most from that gap. Research and industry evidence point the same way. Deepfake detection tools still produce false negatives, and newer diffusion-based images are often harder to catch than older synthetic media because they leave fewer obvious artifacts. Studies also show people are poor at spotting convincing fakes and tend to overestimate their ability to do so. That makes an unlabeled fake more persuasive, not less. The safeguard is to treat the label as a disclosure tool, not an authenticity certificate. Google can reduce the risk by making that limitation explicit, combining labels with provenance standards such as watermarking and content credentials, and improving coverage across older files and formats. For users, the practical rule is simple: a missing AI label should not be taken as proof an image is real.

3 articles · Updated · Tech Advisor · Jul 13

Google’s July Play System update adds on/off backup controls for SMS, MMS, RCS-related device data, call history and settings, letting Android users choose what goes into Google cloud backups.
The change matters because Android backups now count against Google’s 15GB free storage quota, increasing pressure on users to trim what they save.
A new Documents section on the Backup page can automatically copy downloaded files such as DOC, PPT, XLS and PDF to Google Drive, with files encrypted in transit.
Google says the rollout began July 6 and also includes an upgraded native Google One storefront, Wear OS work-profile transfer support and new Chromebook location-sharing features.