As the astounding world of artificial intelligence continues to move forwards in leaps and bounds, it’s not just AI tech companies themselves that are hard at work coming up with new features and innovations to keep up with this progressing technology.
Today Sony Electronics has announced that they’ve now completed a second round of testing for their new in-camera authenticity technology which was done in partnership with the Associated Press. This new in-camera digital signature technology is squarely aimed at providing creators with an extra means to verify and validate the originality of their content.
Let’s take a look at this exciting new technology, and share reports from Sony about how — and when — you might be able to add this in-camera authenticity tech to potentially some of Sony’s latest cameras.
Sony’s In-Camera Authenticity Technology
Developed as a machine-based digital signature, so to speak, Sony’s authenticity technology is designed to remove the opportunity for any undetected manipulation of your images (or possibly eventually video). And, with Sony’s new tech, this digital signature should be created inside your camera at the very moment a digital image is captured in the hardware chipset.
Here’s Sony President and COO Neal Manowitz breaking down this new tech and why it’s coming out now.
“While the rapid evolution of generative AI (Artificial Intelligence) brings new possibilities for creative expression, it has also led to growing concern about the impact of altered or manipulated imagery in journalism. The dissemination of false information and images has real world social impact that brings harm not only to our photojournalist and news agency partners, but to society as a whole. We care deeply about this challenge and are committed to using our resources to help solve it.” — Neal Manowitz, President and COO of Sony Electronics.
Manowitz goes on to talk about how, through Sony’s work on the steering committee for the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), they’re focused on setting a new current industry standard for the tracking of editing and manipulation of imagery.
A Partnership Between Sony and the Associated Press
From this partnership between Sony and the Associated Press, Sony has been working with the AP to test out this new technology with a recent field test having been completed in October of this year. As part of this month-long test, Sony was able to focus on both the capture authentication as well as the workflow processes.
However, it’s not just Sony and the AP at work here. To truly unlock this authenticity technology workflow Sony has reported that they’ve also partnered with the company Camera Bits to utilize their Photo Mechanic workflow tool as well.
“We appreciate the significant challenge that manipulated imagery poses for our partners, and we are highly motivated to play a role in helping solve it. Photo Mechanic has been used by the photojournalism industry for 25 years and continues to evolve as the industry introduces new technology. We are committed to ensuring Photo Mechanic remains a trusted and authentic workflow solution.” — Dennis Walker, President and Founder of Camera Bits.
And this new combined technology promises to preserve a camera’s digital signature at the very start — and throughout — the entire metadata editing process.
When is the Planned Release?
Now, that’s the big question here. While this technology is exciting — and certainly very encouraging — as a way to combat current and future AI abuse of others’ content. It’s also something that will have to be seen to be believed at this point.
However, Sony does report that this new in-camera signature and C2PA authentication is planned to be released here in the spring of 2024. And, as far as cameras set to get this new firmware update, it sounds like Sony’s very latest offerings like the Alpha 9 IIII, Alpha 1 and Alpha 7S III will be the first in line.
We’ll keep you all updated as more information becomes available.
Sony a9 III Mirrorless Camera
Laying claim to the title of world’s first global shutter mirrorless camera, the Sony a9 III is a speedy and incredibly capable system for sports, wildlife, photojournalism, and much, much more.
Author: Jourdan Aldredge
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
