The industry finally stopped theorizing and started building the infrastructure to preserve truth itself We’ve reached the inflection point. Not the one we’ll read about in retrospect, but the one happening right now—where the exponential flood of AI-generated content threatens to drown out any meaningful signal of authenticity. The WorldContinue Reading
As generative AI continues to infiltrate everything from smartphone cameras to image editors, one deceptively simple question remains unresolved and increasingly urgent: How much AI involvement is enough to call something AI-generated? It is not just a technical question or a legalContinue Reading
Perception, like clouds, is shaped more by the observer than the object. One person sees a horse galloping through the sky; another sees a face, a dragon, or nothing at all. The sky doesn’t change—the viewer does. And so it is with images. We do not see the world asContinue Reading
Copyright is a Pillar of Provenance Copyright isn’t just a legal mechanism—it’s also a system of traceability. When a piece of content is protected by copyright: Its origin is clear (who created it, when, and under what rights). Its chain of custody can often be reconstructed (via licenses, credits, metadata,Continue Reading
What if every photograph that could ever be taken already exists? Not in the sense that someone has already captured them, but in the sense that they are all possible, waiting to be revealed. How AI Generates Images: Deconstructing and Reassembling Reality Generative AI doesn’t “copy” images from its trainingContinue Reading
They like the tool, but they don’t like the perceived demonization: After Instagram instituted a label on images to clearly identify those that were AI-generated, many photographers stood up in arms, angry that it also included images retouched using AI. “It is not the same,” they say. “Retouching,” they say,Continue Reading
As we progress in our new decade, an invisible crisis is unfolding. In our digital age, where images can be manipulated effortlessly or generated entirely by artificial intelligence, our faith in what we see is crumbling. Since we rely on our senses to make decisions about the world—particularly our senseContinue Reading
In the world of photography, the magic often happens in the blink of an eye. A photographer must capture a moment that is gone almost as soon as it arrives. This ability to seize the ephemeral is not just luck—it is the mastery of probability, honed through years of experienceContinue Reading
On January 14, 2014, photographer Narciso Contreras was dismissed by AP for editing a war photo, raising issues of journalistic integrity and trust. Recent advancements like the Content Credentials metadata framework aim to restore authenticity in images, flagging edits and AI involvement. Major tech companies, camera manufacturers, and news agencies are adopting this transparency standard, signaling a paradigm shift in the credibility of visual content.Continue Reading
Major tech companies like Google, Meta, and OpenAI are labeling AI-generated images as “AI-generated” to distinguish them from authentic photos. These labels support the C2PA standard which is gaining industry support, emphasizing transparency for consumers and protection against deceptive imagery. An upcoming panel will discuss the effectiveness and future of these labeling practices, although the system isn’t foolproof due to the potential to manipulate image metadata. The industry is also exploring AI detection tools as another method to identify AI-generated content.Continue Reading