Two months ago, media giant Fox Corp. partnered with Polygon Labs, the team behind the Ethereum-focused Layer 2 blockchain, to tackle deepfake distrust.
Fox and Polygon launched Verify, a protocol aimed at protecting IP while allowing consumers to verify the authenticity of content. And since then, government regulatory boards, publishers and others have seen it as a viable solution to “today's problems,” Fox CTO Melody Hildebrandt said on TechCrunch's Chain Reaction podcast. Told.
Hildebrandt said he is bullish that more news organizations, media companies and others will integrate AI technology as it becomes mainstream. This could be beneficial for both AI companies and creators. Models gain knowledge and an outlet, and individuals are able to validate their work.
This is also important for end users who aren't sure if the content they're consuming is trustworthy, Mike Blank, COO of Polygon Labs, said in the episode.
“There’s definitely a beat on the hill,” Hildebrandt said. Most publishers want to be part of this kind of ecosystem, she added, but she doesn't want to give up “all the valuable assets.” This means imposing technical guardrails that allow creators to have an advantage, but also maintain some degree of option in the future.
“We had an immediate 'aha' moment,” Hildebrandt said. “I think we can think about blockchain provenance as a basis for thinking about the question of ‘input to the model’ and how we think about provenance and media in an AI-generated world.”
Blank said there is an opportunity for blockchain to help establish the truth of data and authenticate the proliferation of content on the internet. The hope is to expose untrustworthy content and give consumers peace of mind in a world where things aren't always trustworthy.
One of the main advantages of blockchain technology is that it allows data to be stored in a way that guarantees data integrity. Blockchain can also cryptographically verify the authenticity of images, text, videos, or other media assets.
“Putting that content on-chain allows us to verify that the content was created by a specific person or brand,” Blank said.
Ultimately, Blank said, it's in a brand's best interest to proactively provide verified information. “It will become increasingly easy for end users to understand where they are receiving content from and whether it is actually valid or verified in some way.”
AI-derived content is being generated at an unprecedented pace and will continue to be generated as AI capabilities improve. “I think we all need to work together to ensure that the technology environment we are creating has the scale to solve this problem at a pace that end-user consumers can effectively consume.” Blank said.
This story was inspired by an episode of TechCrunch's “Chain Reaction” podcast. Subscribe to Chain Reaction on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite pod platform to hear more stories and tips from entrepreneurs who are building the most innovative companies today.
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