From Hollywood stars to the Pope in a puffer jacket, even politicians and images from the war in Gaza, there have been plenty of fake photographs doing the rounds in 2023. While some are amusing, others spread misinformation.
In a collective effort to tackle the proliferation of fake images, major camera manufacturers Canon, Nikon, and Sony are joining forces to introduce cutting-edge technology that will facilitate the authentication of photographs.
Digital Signatures for Authenticity
According to reports from Nikkei Asia, the trio of Japanese camera giants is developing technology that will allow photographers to embed digital signatures directly into images. These signatures will include crucial information such as the photographer's name, date, time, and location the image was taken. This feature is expected to make it significantly easier to verify the authenticity of a photograph.
The verification process will be facilitated through a web-based application called "Verify," which has been launched by a global alliance of media outlets, camera manufacturers, and tech companies. If an image is detected as AI-generated or manipulated, Verify will flag it as lacking "content credentials," helping combat the spread of misinformation.
Rollout Plans
Sony is taking the lead in this initiative, committing to release firmware updates for three of its professional-level mirrorless cameras by the spring of 2024. Canon is expected to follow suit, offering the technology in some of its pro-level bodies later in the year, possibly even in a new model set for release in 2024. Canon is also developing its own application capable of distinguishing between images taken by humans and those generated by AI.
While Sony and Canon are considering extending the authentication feature to videos, specific details on this aspect remain scarce.
Nikon, on the other hand, plans to introduce this feature across all its mirrorless cameras, although a specific timeline for the update is yet to be disclosed.
A Collective Stand Against Deepfakes
While this technology is groundbreaking, it is not the first of its kind. The Leica M11-P already boasts a feature called Content Credentials, embedding information like device, owner, date, and time into images when activated. Nikon, a member of the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), co-founded by Adobe, had previously promised this feature in the Nikon Z9, and now it seems digital signatures will become more prevalent in 2024.
Various tech companies have also been contributing to the fight against fake photos. Google introduced SynthID in 2023, adding a digital watermark to AI-generated images, while Intel has been exploring innovative methods like analyzing skin color changes caused by blood flow to identify deepfakes.
0 Comments