I applaud that Adobe wishes to promote transparency around the use of AI in imagery.
However, forcing the addition of Content Credentials (CCs) is a bad move for several reasons:
- The whole point of the AI debate is that humans should be in control, not computers. Forcing CCs is exactly the opposite of this. The chain of trust must always begin and end with humans, not software. That's the whole point.
- Minor use of AI to touch up a photo is basically equivalent to Content-Aware Fill or Healing Brush, or traditional airbrushing.
- It is actually less transparent. Adobe does not make it clear if there is a threshold for the amount of AI usage that triggers the forced addition of CCs. Clarifying this threshold doesn't help. No threshold can truly reflect usage of AI that is deceptive vs benign.
- People already know that images – even before the age of AI – can't always be trusted. CCs don't really add anything to this, in fact they create a false sense of security when CCs are absent.
- It is trivial to remove CCs from an image for anyone who actually wants to deceive. This further emphasises the problem of a false sense of secuity.
- The current implementation often erroneously forces CCs when no, or extremely minimal, AI was present. This can occur for instance if a file was loaded that previously used AI, but all trace of the AI has actually since been removed. This isn't a bug that needs to be fixed. It illustrates the fundamental problem with a system where the software decides.
- CCs don't make any difference if the end medium isn't digital, or isn't able to display the CCs.
I would put it to Adobe that Content Credentials is an excellent initiative, but it is a feature that must be in the user's control.
It is up to me to decide whether it's important to disclose that AI has been used. If I removed a few dust marks in the background, no one cares. If I'm trying to sway an election, let my conscience be my judge. If I've made a satirical image and I want people to laugh, but not get the wrong idea, I certainly would choose to include CCs.
A forced digital watermark is not, and cannot, be a magic solution to the moral questions that surround the manipulation of images.
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