# Are there any apps that block (or help block) AI content, or at least identifies it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Tags:** ai\ **Created:** [October 5, 2026, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apps-that-block-or-help-block-ai-content-or-at-least-identifies-it/1033604 "2026-10-05T18:42:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apps-that-block-or-help-block-ai-content-or-at-least-identifies-it/1033604/1 "2026-10-05T18:42:59Z")
Just like the title says. Is there any way to control AI content on my phone and/or my home computer? ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apps-that-block-or-help-block-ai-content-or-at-least-identifies-it/1033604/2 "2026-10-05T18:48:20Z")
This is going to sound snarky, but… There’s always the OFF switch. Although I’m not sure I trust it anymore, either - especially on the phone. Any app ‘smart’ enough to reliably detect AI generated content would almost have to be an AI itself… ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apps-that-block-or-help-block-ai-content-or-at-least-identifies-it/1033604/3 "2026-10-05T18:53:24Z")
> [@vbob](#): > > There’s always the OFF switch. Although I’m not sure I trust it anymore, either - especially on the phone. It’s not that it’s snarky, it’s that it’s pointless. That’s like asking if there’s a way to skip the commercials on Netflix and someone telling you to stop watching Netflix. > [@vbob](#): > > Any app ‘smart’ enough to reliably detect AI generated content would almost have to be an AI itself… There’s plenty of random apps that claim to do it, how well they work, I don’t know. But I believe Gemini has an app that will allow you to check for (Gemini) watermarks. Edit, looks like, at least for Gemini created images, you can ask gemini (aka Google) to check it for you. > **[SynthID](https://deepmind.google/models/synthid/)** > > SynthID is a tool to watermark and identify AI-generated content, helping to foster transparency and trust in generative AI. > Simply upload the image, video or audio clip to your chat, and ask if it’s been created or altered by Google AI. Gemini will check for a SynthID watermark, and let you know if it finds one. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apps-that-block-or-help-block-ai-content-or-at-least-identifies-it/1033604/4 "2026-10-05T19:43:36Z")
**Moderating** > [@vbob](#): > > This is going to sound snarky, but… > There’s always the OFF switch. You’re right, that sounds snarky, and it is clearly not what the OP is looking for. This is FQ. Less snark, more facts, please. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apps-that-block-or-help-block-ai-content-or-at-least-identifies-it/1033604/5 "2026-10-05T21:13:40Z")
For text, at least, this is a question of great interest to teachers. There are a lot of tools that claim to recognize AI, but it’s tough to tell how reliable they are. Some of them are bundled with tools to modify AI text to make it “look more real”; of course, this raises all sorts of questions about conflict of interest and other ethical issues (though, in my experience, the “humanized” text unsurprisingly looks even more AI-generated (because it is)). ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apps-that-block-or-help-block-ai-content-or-at-least-identifies-it/1033604/6 "2026-10-05T22:02:06Z")
Sorry - I stepped in with my foot in my mouth. But I was serious - if we have to use a tool to tell if we are dealing with AI, how do we trust the tool? We are seeing reports of AI agents escaping the confinements of the test suites - and by definition such reports are of the the incidents that have been noticed. What haven’t we noticed? Human content creators can choose to watermark images and texts - but lack of such a watermark would not necessarily imply an AI source. Any attempt to mandate that AI content be clearly identified as such is bound to be circumvented. So I can imagine a browser filter that only allows verifiably human generated content, but that’s not what the OP is looking for, and would impose an enormous effort on human creators. Not to mention it would block whale songs and elephant paintings… ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apps-that-block-or-help-block-ai-content-or-at-least-identifies-it/1033604/7 "2026-10-05T23:00:49Z")
The search engine DuckDuckGo offers a [version called NOAI](https://noai.duckduckgo.com/) which claims to filter out: - AI-assisted answers - AI-generated images - AI feature suggestions Obviously that isn’t a panacea, but it’s a useful tool. It’s my default searcher, and works fine. I don’t know how effective it actually is. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2026, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apps-that-block-or-help-block-ai-content-or-at-least-identifies-it/1033604/8 "2026-10-06T00:58:57Z")
Open AI has its own implementation of Synth ID and needs to be checked here: [https://openai.com/research/verify/](https://openai.com/research/verify/) The two don’t cross check. Gemini only knows Gemini Synth IDs and Open AI can only detect Open AI Synth IDs. This is different than asking an AI whether a picture is AI generated or not. Those results and AI detection websites are not reliable. This looks for an actual provenance watermark in the pixels of the image, and the digital fingerprint can survive resolution changes of the images as well as cropping. I think it can sometimes detect it in pictures of printed AI material, too. What it tells you for almost certain is whether an image was output through Gemini or ChatGPT or any Google or OpenAI products (not sure what others there are). It does not tell you whether the image was created of whole cloth or based on another image. If you put a photograph you took through Gemini and asked it to, say, soften your skin, the resulting image will have a SynthID on it. Also, false negatives are possible. An image can be manipulated enough to mangle the SynthID so it can’t be reliably detected. Most of the time, though, I see SynthIDs intact. I don’t think people have reliably found a way around them, or care enough, because the average user doesn’t even know how to use this technology. As for the OP, I am not aware of any reliable way to do this. Short of requiring metadata or something that flags AI on all AI content, I don’t see a conceivable way this could work right now, even using AI to detect AI which, as I stated, is unreliable as all hell. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2026, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apps-that-block-or-help-block-ai-content-or-at-least-identifies-it/1033604/9 "2026-10-06T12:35:34Z")
There are sometimes clear “tells” for AI text, such as some [Claude-isms](https://claudeisms.org/) well known by now in the tech world. It will also watermark its own text using an interesting algorithm, replacing words with specially tagged synonyms: [https://youtu.be/Cmi-1QSaptA?is=cTGudLgTYROfFzVC](https://youtu.be/Cmi-1QSaptA?is=cTGudLgTYROfFzVC) Noentheless, I agree with the other posters here. If you do find a watermark, it’s AI generated (false positives should be extremely rare). But if you DON’T find a watermark, that doesn’t prove a human wrote or edited it. False negatives are very common, and it’s easy to make the AI write in a different voice than normal. The non-watermark AI detectors, as far as I know, are mostly snake oil. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2026, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apps-that-block-or-help-block-ai-content-or-at-least-identifies-it/1033604/10 "2026-10-06T12:48:59Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > The search engine DuckDuckGo offers a [version called NOAI](https://noai.duckduckgo.com/) [Kagi.com](http://Kagi.com) is a paid search engine that goes one step further: it lets you block entire domains, and see what others have blocked too. There are a lot of AI spam sites now that just capitalize on search keywords with SEO fluff, so that’s pretty useful. Where it fails is being able to detect PARTIAL AI content mixed in with human text. I don’t know of any system that can do that reliably. ---
**Author:** ![Keith1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Keith1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith1)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2026, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apps-that-block-or-help-block-ai-content-or-at-least-identifies-it/1033604/11 "2026-10-06T13:49:50Z")
I disabled the Gemini AI thing on my phone (as much as possible) shortly after it came out. Actually, I’ve disabled all the Google apps I can while still having my phone able to function. Not using Chrome browser goes without saying. There are browsers that don’t include, or at least permit you to disable any AI input. I also use texting, contacts, calendar & email apps other than what come pre-installed with Android. Additionally, I haven’t updated the operating system since 15 (i think) (just as I still use Windows 10, with Open Shell which makes 10 look & behave more like Windows 7). I’ll ‘upgrade’ when I see something worthy & not loaded with spyware. I’m not holding my breath. I have this thing about a computer (software developers/tech companies) dictating how I’m to use my own computer by forcing all these unwanted services that complete tasks for you. I like to be the one in control of my computing. It harks back to the days of that stupid paper clip ‘helper’ in Microsoft’s Office suite. I think it was called Clippy. Might have been Windows 98 or XP. It was roundly despised. Looking back it seems that, that was AI foretold. I should add that I hardly ever use my phone anyway, compared with most. I use my computer a lot. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2026, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apps-that-block-or-help-block-ai-content-or-at-least-identifies-it/1033604/12 "2026-10-06T14:09:24Z")
One problem I’ve read about with AI is that if someone uses AI to check grammar, spelling, suggest better wording, etc. the that may be flagged as an AI-generated text, regardless of how much or how little AI contributed - the AI will watermark its output. Considering there have always been grammar-checkers and thesaurus apps, to what extent is AI different? Apparently use of the long dash in text - that is an AI trait too, although I have no idea how to generate one and could not be bothered to look it up. Also, a hallmark of AI is its expansive vocabulary and complex sentence structure, so some students who have been accused of using AI will now “dumb down” their work to avoid the accusation, since it’s difficult to disprove. There was also a discussion of how to protect your pictures - photos and artwork - online. Two programs were mentioned - Glaze and NIghtshade - which apparently can alter pictures so they are not recognizable to AI without affecting how humans see them. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2026, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-apps-that-block-or-help-block-ai-content-or-at-least-identifies-it/1033604/13 "2026-10-06T15:56:10Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > Two programs were mentioned None of those things will work long term. If it’s recognizable to a person, it will be recognizable to some AI out there, whether currently or in a few more months. The extreme version of this is simply a CAPTCHA, and those are already losing the arms race. Good against simpler, dumber bots, but not at all foolproof against stronger AIs. In fact I’d argue the situation is reversed… many of them are easier for a computer to solve than a person! > [@md-2000](#): > > Considering there have always been grammar-checkers and thesaurus apps, to what extent is AI different? LLMs actually understand language and have much more context (the whole paragraph or article, not just the surrounding words or sentences). They can write to a certain voice, or era, or theme, or whatever style. It’s much clearer to see these sorts of differences not in a basic grammar checker but a translation or paraphrase, for example. But yeah, basic grammar checking doesn’t need LLMs (they would just slow it down, really). But it’s more a matter of whether you could even get “classical” grammar checkers for much longer, as every tech company jumps on board the AI bandwagon. Last decade was subscription everything, even when it’s not needed or wanted. This one will be the same but with AI, users be damned. Tech companies mostly chase investor gullibility and IPOs, not long term satisfied users.