Tuesday, October 8th, 2024 Posted by Jim Thacker

Adobe announces new Content Authenticity web app


Adobe has announced Content Authenticity, a free web app that will let digital artists attach Content Credentials to images or videos created in any CG application.

The credentials act like a digital signature, identifying the original creator of an image or video, even if the file is subsequently reposted on other websites, or on social media.

The Content Authenticity app, due for release next year, will also include an option to signal to generative AI developers that the content should not be used to train new AI models.

Adobe describes it as “a way to both protect your work and [to help] people who come across your content discover more of what you’ve created”.

Below, we’ve assembled our FAQs on the new app, and how – and whether – it will work.

What are Content Credentials?
The digital equivalent of an artist’s signature, Content Credentials are data embedded in images, videos and audio files containing information about how they were created, and by whom.

Content Credentials also provide details of when an image was created, whether it has been edited subsequently, and what tools were used to create it.

Which CG software currently supports Content Credentials?
Adobe has been promoting Content Credentials for some time, having founded the member organisation behind them, the Content Authenticity Initiative, in 2019.

It is already possible to attach Content Credentials when exporting files from some of Adobe’s Creative Cloud applications, including Photoshop and Lightroom.

However, they aren’t widely supported in other CG software, as you can gauge from the list of organizations that have implemented them on the Content Credentials website.

How will the new Content Authenticity web app work?
That seems to be an issue that the new web app is designed to address, making it possible to assign Content Credentials to digital work, “whether created with Creative Cloud apps or not”.

It will be possible to batch process images, enabling users to apply the same set of credentials to their entire portfolio, or all of the assets created for a job.

Can Content Credentials be removed from an image after it is created?
Content Credentials use a combination of techniques to embed information in files, including “invisible watermarking and cryptographically signed metadata”.

Adobe describes them as “durable and robust”, claiming that they will “remain connected to your work even if the metadata is removed or if someone takes a screenshot”.

Will the Content Authenticity app help to prevent image piracy?
As with similar digital initiatives like Wacom’s Yuify – or traditional proofs of ownership, like registering images with the US Copyright Office – Content Credentials are a way to prove authorship of an image or video.

However, if that image or video is misused online, it will still be up to the artist to take action against whoever has misused it – a much harder legal and logistical problem.

How do Content Credentials apply to generative AI?
Content Credentials already include information about whether images or videos were created using generative AI tools, including Adobe’s own Firefly toolset.

Firefly has been an object of suspicion among some artists, with negative online feedback earlier this year prompting Adobe to update its Terms of Use to state that it will not train generative AI models on users’ content, unless they choose to sell it through Adobe Stock.

The new web app goes further, including usage preferences that enable users to signal that they don’t want “other generative AI models in the market to use or train on [the] content”.

Will the Content Authenticity app prevent gen AI models being trained on artists’ content?
Whether other developers of generative AI tools will respect Content Credentials is less certain.

However, the new preference setting makes it explicit that the creator of an image or video did not want it to be used to train AI models, even if it is reposted to other websites or social media.

While the doesn’t prevent the file from being scraped from those sites, it is information that could be used, for example, in a future class action lawsuit.

AI opt-out aggregator Spawning – best known for its online tool Have I Been Trained? – has also “committed to recognizing” the no-generative-AI preference in files with Content Credentials.

How can I view the Content Credentials of images I find online?
Adobe has also just released an experimental free Chrome browser extension enabling users to view the Content Credentials of files on websites they visit.

When will the Content Authenticity app be released?
The Content Authenticity web app is due for a beta release in “Q1 2025”. It will be free.

Read Adobe’s blog post announcing the Content Authenticity web app

Download Adobe’s free Content Authenticity Chrome browser extension


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