Adobe Creates New Symbol That Flags Content as AI-Generated

Adobe and a host of other companies have unveiled a new symbol that can be tagged onto content that establishes an image’s provenance.

The new “Content Credentials” icon can be embedded in the metadata of all content created by Adobe software and when a user hovers over it, they will see information on how the image was created.

Microsoft, Nikon, Leica, Camera Bits, Truepic, and Publicis Groupe have all signed up to the symbol which is in association with the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA).

“Creators can choose to attach Content Credentials to their content, which might include things like whether AI was used or not,” C2PA writes on its website.

“Once the content is made available, anyone can view its Content Credentials by clicking the pin, which reveals the most relevant information directly in context.”

Adobe calls the symbol an “icon of transparency” and it will be available to those using Adobe’s photo and video editing platforms including Photoshop and Premiere.

The “CR” symbol takes the first two letters from CRedentials as “CC” was deemed to be too confusing because of its association with Creative Commons.

The senior director of Adobe’s Content Authenticity Initiative, Andy Parsons, tells The Verge that the symbol acts as a “nutrition label”. He hopes the symbol will encourage people to flag AI-generated content.

“Before, there was not a single mark that everybody had aligned on using, and a big part of our efforts over the past year or so has been to get people together from different organizations to test a symbol,” Parsons says.

Because the information is embedded in the metadata, the small logo cannot be Photoshopped out. When users hover over the symbol, they will be able to see the permanent record of the image including a full edit history using the “Verify” feature.

Content Credentials was first launched in 2021 as a way to battle against image disinformation and increase the trust and transparency of content shared online — namely images and photos.