THE ESSENTIALS IN 30 SECONDS

  • Pangram Image 1.0 flags AI-generated images and shows a heatmap of the affected areas; it now runs in Pangram's Chrome extension while users browse.
  • A smaller model, Pangram Image Flash 1.0, analyses uploaded videos frame by frame and separates partly edited clips from fully generated ones.
  • Pangram reports 99.96% accuracy on an internal image set and 98.7% on a video benchmark; none of these figures has been independently verified.

Pangram announced on November 4 that its AI detection tools now cover images and video. The launch centres on Pangram Image 1.0, a model that had been available as a research preview, and a lighter companion model for video.

Two models, several entry points

According to Pangram's announcement, Image 1.0 is its main image detector. Besides a verdict, it produces a heatmap that marks where AI-generated content appears in a picture. Pangram Image Flash 1.0 is a smaller, faster model that the company uses for video: it examines a clip frame by frame and, Engadget reports, can tell a partly AI-edited video from one that is entirely generated.

Image detection is now built into Pangram's Chrome extension, which scans pictures automatically as people browse social networks, shopping sites or rental listings. Subscribers can also upload images and videos in the web app, and the API has been updated to accept both. Engadget says free accounts can check a handful of images. On Pangram's pricing page, the Individual plan costs $20 a month and includes 100 image scans; the page does not mention video.

What the numbers mean

All performance figures come from Pangram. For images, the company created 1,200 synthetic look-alikes of 100 real photos using 12 frontier generators it does not name, and reports 99.96% accuracy on that set. Engadget relays company tests in which the model caught more than 99% of AI images with a 0.27% false-positive rate. For video, Pangram says Flash scored 98.7% on the DF26 benchmark, 29 points ahead of the next best detector in its comparison. Comparisons on other academic benchmarks are shown only in charts.

Known limits

Pangram documents some weak spots itself. Images must be at least 256 by 256 pixels, and anything under 512 pixels comes with a reduced-confidence warning. Engadget found that, in a demo on Pinterest, two clearly synthetic images returned an "unsure" result. The company also told Engadget that early versions mistook iPhone photos for AI output, because phone cameras apply their own processing. Chief executive Max Spero said Pangram had to make the model "robust to this postprocessing", and the release was delayed for testing on recent iPhones. Engadget notes that, as with other AI image detectors, the results come with caveats.