Before the age of generative AI, photographers, and videographers employed the use of watermarks to tag their work. When AI-generated content became more common, many groups called for transparency and sought to mandate watermarks which would show that these images were not created by humans.
Despite this, watermarks have never fully been able to keep bad actors at bay, even before AI, especially because of the existence of accessible technology that can easily remove them. In September 2023, a study claimed that watermarking AI content still has several issues, including how forging watermarks can lead to misattribution. Although, all hope is not lost yet.
In December 2023, Nikon, Sony, and Canon announced their bid to keep photographers and videographers safe from misattribution and deepfakes of their work. Aside from just watermarking their images, these camera manufacturers have proposed the use of digital signatures as the new global standard for media professionals. Although, ordinary photographers, videographers, and other hobbyists, can also stand to benefit from these efforts.
Nikkei Asia shares that these tamper-resistant signatures will include metadata, such as the date, time, GPS location, and photographer’s details. Nikkei Asia also shares the plans to launch Verify, a web-based verification tool that can check the digital signature of these images moving forward.
