The Real Story Behind the Princess Kate Photo Edit Scandal

Transcript

Here’s the real story behind the Princess Kate photo edit.

By now, you've probably heard that she edited a family photo and put it out on her social. And some are calling it a scandal. I don't think it's a scandal. What mom or dad hasn't edited a photo and shared it out on social. She was even quick to claim responsibility for it.

I don't care about that. I care about how it came to light. It was the news and photo agencies that detected the edit, and they were the one who put the kill notice out on the image. The story here is that they are now verifying and authenticating images much like they do their core news services. That's what's interesting.

They don't even trust a regal and verified source such as the royal family. This leads me to where we are. They aren't doing this because they're trying to catch some mom editing photos of their family. They're doing this because of generative AI. They need to know that a photo or video they're using is genuine, that it wasn't generated artificial or edited without them knowing.

This is why companies like Reuters and Adobe have initiatives in place directly addressing the authenticity of images and videos. And they're using blockchains in many cases.

So where will this lead the agencies?

Will they trust an image if it's been certified by Adobe or any of these other initiatives?

Which blockchain will come out on top as a stamp of approval?

The SSL certificate of imagery?

I don't know.

Later...