To enhance transparency in the digital landscape, Google has joined the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) as a steering committee member.
This collaboration places Google alongside industry leaders like Adobe, BBC, Intel, Microsoft, Publicis Groupe, Sony, and Truepic, forming a collective effort to establish standards that certify the provenance of digital content. Content Credentials, a tamper-resistant metadata standard, serves as a “nutrition label” for digital content. Aligned with the C2PA open technical standard, it enhances transparency in the digital content landscape.
The C2PA is an organization dedicated to promoting transparency online by certifying the origin of digital content. Google’s involvement signifies a significant step towards enhancing transparency in digital content. As a member of the steering committee, Google will contribute to the adoption of Content Credentials, a technical standard developed by the C2PA to attach tamper-resistant metadata to digital content, indicating its creation or modification history. Alongside other esteemed members such as Adobe, BBC, Intel, Microsoft, Publicis Groupe, Sony, and Truepic, Google will collaborate to further refine the C2PA’s technical standard for digital content provenance. Furthermore, Google, including YouTube, will explore ways to integrate Content Credentials into its own products and services in the future. Google’s participation is expected to raise awareness about Content Credentials and their importance in helping users worldwide understand the content they encounter, thus fostering greater trust in the digital ecosystem.
This metadata aims to transparently showcase the origin and modification history of digital content. Google’s involvement, especially through YouTube, is expected to contribute to raising awareness of Content Credentials as a crucial resource in helping users comprehend the content they engage with, fostering trust in the digital ecosystem.
Dana Rao, General Counsel, and Chief Trust Officer at Adobe, and Co-founder of C2PA, highlighted the relevance of this initiative in the current global context, emphasizing the urgency to combat misinformation, particularly in the lead-up to major events like elections. Rao expressed confidence that Google’s membership would accelerate the widespread adoption of Content Credentials, contributing to transparency from content creation to consumption.
Laurie Richardson, VP of Trust and Safety at Google, affirmed the company’s commitment to a responsible AI approach, citing previous efforts such as Google DeepMind’s SynthID, Search’s “About this Image,” and YouTube’s labels indicating altered or synthetic content. Richardson noted that participation in C2PA aligns with Google’s broader goals to increase transparency and provide users with essential context for making informed decisions.
“At Google, a critical part of our responsible approach to AI involves working with others in the industry to help increase transparency around digital content,” says Laurie Richardson, VP of Trust and Safety at Google. “This is why we are excited to join the committee and incorporate the latest version of the C2PA standard. It builds on our work in this space – including Google DeepMind’s SynthID, Search’s About this Image and YouTube’s labels denoting content that is altered or synthetic –– to provide important context to people, helping them make more informed decisions.”
“It is more important than ever to have a transparent approach to digital content that empowers people to make decisions,” said Andrew Jenks, C2PA Chair. “The C2PA standards are undoubtedly leading the charge in this endeavor, and we’re thrilled with the growth and adoption. Google’s membership is an important validation for the C2PA’s approach. We encourage others to join us in expanding the use of Content Credentials and contributing to the creation of a safer, more transparent digital ecosystem.”
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