Revolutionizing Image Authenticity: Major Camera Brands Deploy Digital Signatures to Combat Deepfakes
- Tharaka Basnayaka
- Jan 4, 2024
- 2 min read
Major camera manufacturers Nikon, Sony Group, and Canon are innovating in the realm of camera technology by incorporating digital signatures into images. This advancement aims to distinguish authentic photos from increasingly convincing counterfeit ones. Nikon plans to introduce this feature in their mirrorless cameras, targeting professional photographers and photojournalists. The digital signature will securely encode details like the date, time, location, and the photographer's identity.
This move is a response to the growing challenge posed by hyper-realistic fake images, including deepfakes of notable figures like former U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
To combat this, an alliance comprising global news entities, tech companies, and camera manufacturers has launched 'Verify,' a web tool for checking images. This tool validates the authenticity of images by displaying their embedded digital signatures, including the date and location.
The digital signature technology adopted by Nikon, Sony, and Canon adheres to a globally recognized standard. These Japanese companies hold a dominant position in the global digital camera market, accounting for approximately 90% of it.
The 'Verify' tool also identifies images generated by AI or those that have been altered, marking them as lacking content credentials. Sony is poised to release an update in spring 2024 that will enable digital signatures in three of its professional-grade mirrorless SLR cameras. This technology might also be extended to videos.
Sony's authentication servers can detect digital signatures in images sent to news organizations, determining if they are AI-generated. Sony and The Associated Press have already conducted trials using this technology. Sony aims to broaden the range of compatible cameras and encourage more media outlets to adopt this technology.
Canon is also on track to release a camera with similar digital signature capabilities in 2024 and is working on adding this feature to videos. A project team formed by Canon in 2019 is collaborating with Thomson Reuters and the Starling Lab for Data Integrity to develop this technology. Additionally, Canon plans to launch an image management app to verify if photos are taken by humans.
The ability to create fake images is advancing rapidly. For instance, Tsinghua University researchers in China introduced a new AI-based generative technology capable of producing around 700,000 images daily.
In response to the proliferation of fake content, tech companies are actively developing solutions. Google released a tool in August that embeds undetectable digital watermarks in AI-generated images. Intel, in 2022, unveiled a technology that authenticates images by analyzing skin color changes indicative of blood flow. Hitachi is also working on technology to ensure the authenticity of online identities.
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