The author suggests that the solution to this problem lies in digital provenance, understanding the origins and any manipulations of digital files. The Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI), founded by Adobe, is working towards implementing an open technical standard around provenance. This includes Content Credentials, akin to a "nutrition label" for digital creations, which provide information about the file's origin and any edits made. This technology, if universally adopted, could help verify the authenticity of digital content and replace doubt with certainty.
Key takeaways:
- An official photo of Catherine, Princess of Wales, and her children released on Mother's Day in the U.K. was suspected of being manipulated, particularly Princess Charlotte's left sleeve.
- The author, an academic specializing in photo manipulation detection, analyzed the image and concluded that it was likely edited using Photoshop or a camera's onboard editing tools, but not AI-generated.
- The Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI), founded by Adobe and now a community of over 2,500 media and technology companies, is working on an open technical standard around digital provenance to understand the origins and manipulations of digital files.
- The CAI developed Content Credentials, akin to a 'nutrition label' for digital creations, which can be incorporated into hardware devices and editing programs to log and inspect file changes, helping to establish trust in digital content.