AI or real? - Adobe launches content credentials with Microsoft, Leica, Nikon and others
[10:56 Fri,13.October 2023 by Rudi Schmidts]
A burning issue in the future is reliable source credentials for digital media. After all, most people don't want to be left in the dark about whether an image or video is real or created by an AI. And, of course, about the nuances between these two extreme positions. Likewise, the thoughtless sharing of possibly protected works has been spreading for years through social media. Often, it is almost impossible to find the author or copyright holder of an image.
It is precisely for such problems that Adobe and a number of partners have founded the Content Credentials Initiative, which can provide unalterable information about the creation process of a digital asset. These content credentials are a kind of transparent proof of origin for digital works that not only make it possible to identify the creator or creators of the work, but also to see brand affiliation and other data at a glance. Such information ultimately includes whether an AI was involved in the creation process or the image was otherwise altered.
A corresponding web portal has now been relaunched for Max: ContentCredentials.org. which clearly explains the ideas behind the digital proof of origin.
Content Credentials can be called up directly in an image and cannot be manipulated directly.
For the launch, Adobe was joined by a number of major partners who want to support Content Credentials immediately or in the near future. These include Leica and Nikon as camera manufacturers who can use it to certify that a picture was really taken with this camera.
Companies such as Microsoft and Adobe, on the other hand, have added a function to their digital image generators that issues a corresponding certificate of origin to generative AI works.
The associated logo then guarantees that every change made to an image from its creation to its publication can be traced via a cryptographically generated hash value. This is somewhat reminiscent of a blockchain, but the certificates are stored and managed at a central location. Thus, the certificate is embedded in the image like metadata, but the hash value to check that it has not been tampered with is stored on a central server for comparison.
Adobe says many new members have joined the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI) in recent months, driven by growing interest in generative AI, transparency and online security. There are now said to be more than 2,000 members, including recent additions: CEPIC, Dentsu, Omnicom Groupe, National Geographic Society, National Public Radio (NPR), Photoshelter, and Publicis.
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