Adobe's Content Authenticity Initiative

How do we build systems that improve the way we interact with media and with each other?

"Truth versus Lies when it comes to content authenticity" is today's timely topic and I have brought in Andy Parsons, the Senior Director of the Content Authenticity Initiative at Adobe, to consult!

There is a scientific curiosity for tech leaders around how we discern 'truth' from 'lies' in the media. Especially with the advent of AI, how do we prove what content is false? 

As Andy clarifies, it's actually more beneficial for us to focus on learning what content to trust, rather than proving falsehoods. Given Andy's position at Adobe – besides being a SXSW speaker and oft-quoted tech expert – he's ideally suited to provide insight on the content process that is ‘Capture, Edit, Publish,’ as well as the open source future of Content Authenticity. 

Following on from this is the idea of 'digital provenance' and using metadata that establishes the chain of custody information needed for users to make trust decisions about digital data.

Everyone should have the right to click on a piece of media and know what it is and where it came from. After that, we can make up our own minds about whether it's trustworthy. 

With the good work of the Content Authenticity Initiative, this ideal can become more of a reality as we wade our way through 'fake news' and try to appreciate media content for the honest value it can deliver. Bring on the 2024 US election! 

‍

"It's about trust. And trust is not between computers and cameras. Trust is between humans and organizations." - Andy Parsons

‍

In This Episode:

• What does the Content Authenticity Initiative do?
• Understanding the process of ‘Capture, Edit, and Publish’
• What does digital provenance entail?
• Discerning between publishers who need to be verified and authors wanting to remain anonymous 
• How does the Content Authenticity Initiative actually work? 
• How accessible will this technology be? 
• How will we know whether something was generated by AI?
• Can we use AI to detect AI?