New Photoshop tool could help fight fake images
On Tuesday, Adobe announced the release of a "beta" version of an attribution tool for Photoshop, with the hope it will encourage people to trust that the images they see are truthful (or at least make more informed judgments).The feature, which is optional and will be available initially just to select users, lets photo editors append images with detailed information known as metadata that, in essence, travels around with it online. This information will go far beyond the basic details that can currently be added to pictures and may include who created the image and where, a thumbnail of the original image, and data about how it has been altered — as well as whether AI tools were used to change the picture. This data will be secure and it will be clear if it has been tampered with, Adobe (ADBE)said.
The release is part of the company's Content Authenticity Initiative to fight against dis- and misinformation, which Adobe launched a year ago with Twitter and The New York Times. Initially, the content attribution tool will be for publishing still images to Behance, an Adobe-owned social network for sharing creative work. Over time, the company hopes this kind of authenticating information will be added to different types of content, and be shared widely on social media platforms and through media companies.
Adobe's effort will be limited by the fact that those editing images need to use it voluntarily. And the company won't be the first to attempt to popularize a method for making media trustworthy. However, it may have a better chance at success than others due to its reach.
Yet, as Farid pointed out, Adobe's content-attribution tool can't confirm the veracity of an image before it is edited in Photoshop. To address this problem, photo- and video-verification startup TruePic, which is part of the Content Authenticity Initiative and for which Farid is a paid adviser, recently announced it partnered with chip-maker Qualcomm to create a way to securely snap pictures via a smartphone's the built-in camera app.
See the full story here: https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/20/tech/photoshop-attributing-images/index.html