Sony To Add “Birth Certificate” For Photos Taken With Alpha Cameras

Sony To Add “Birth Certificate” For Photos Taken With Alpha Cameras

In some ways, generative AI is a problem: it provides a readily accessible method of forging a fake image to facilitate the quicker spread of misinformation as images can be highly convincing to the untrained eye. To combat this, companies and organizations including Adobe, BBC, Intel, and more around the world have formed CCoalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA).

Camera makers, including Sony, have joined the efforts as well – with the recent announcement on the completion of testing of “advanced in-camera authenticity technology” co-developed with Associated Press (AP). The technology’s basic principles are simple: it adds hard-coded metadata that verifies the authenticity of the image, which is not tampered with by editing programs or AI. According to Sony, this process is done on the hardware level, which removes the potential for “undetected manipulation at the start”.

It’s also worth mentioning that another camera maker, Leica, has released a camera with bulit-in content authentication technologies – though that costs over $9,000, which is way above the ballpark that even Sony’s flagship Alpha cameras occupy.

The most recent field test was completed during October 2023, with this month-long test involving the evaluation of authentication and workflow process. Sony called in Camera Bits, the company behind the industry-standard workflow tool, Photo Mechanic, to help with the evaluation and the integrity of digital signature in the entire metadata editing process.

Sony says the new authentication system will arrive in three Alpha cameras – Alpha 9 III, Alpha 1, and Alpha 7S III – via a firmware update in Q1 2024.

Pokdepinion: We’re in some ways racing against time to limit the damage that AI-generated imagery can inflict on the media’s trustworthiness – so this will be crucial.