Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Samsung has adopted the C2PA standards for digital media authenticity, starting with the Galaxy S25 series.
- The Galaxy S25 and soon other Samsung devices on One UI 7 add extra metadata to images that you edit with Samsung AI features.
- This metadata lets you see the history of AI edits on a photo, but it’s currently only visible through the Samsung Gallery app.
AI image generators have gotten really, really good at creating believable images, so it’s no wonder that many people are concerned about their impact on society. New smartphones make it so easy to create or edit photos with AI, further heightening these concerns. Thankfully, many companies are cognizant of these issues, which is why they’ve committed to adopting C2PA standards for digital media authenticity. Samsung is one of the first smartphone companies to adopt these C2PA standards by adding extra metadata to photos you edit with AI on the Galaxy S25 series.
C2PA, short for the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, is a group developing new standards to make tracing the origin of digital media easier. These standards define how cryptographically signed metadata should be embedded into image files. This metadata includes information such as the device used to create the image, any AI tools employed in its creation, who issued the content credential, and when the credential was issued. While similar information can already be embedded as metadata through EXIF tags, EXIF tags are easily falsified. Content credentials, in theory, are more difficult to fake because they function similarly to browser certificate lists; the C2PA maintains a list of known certificates to prevent self-signed certificates from impersonating legitimate entities.
Basically, C2PA standards help verify that an image originated from the source it claims. They are not designed to directly identify AI-generated images. If an image includes C2PA metadata with a verifiable content credential issuer, you can be reasonably certain the image came from the entity listed in the metadata. However, if the content credential issuer cannot be verified or is not listed, the image might still be genuine, but you will need to look for other indicators of authenticity, such as watermarks or signs of manipulation.
Currently, few devices embed C2PA metadata in the images they create. The Galaxy S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra are the first Android phones to do so, and other Samsung phones will soon follow. During the Galaxy S25 announcement, Samsung stated that C2PA standards “may be applied to the S25 Series and are anticipated to expand to devices updating to One UI 7, for images generated/edited with Generative Edit, Sketch to Image, Portrait Studio, Drawing Assist, and AI Sticker (Keyboard).”
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
When editing an image on the Galaxy S25 using one of Samsung’s AI tools, a message appears stating that “a watermark and content credentials are added to the image to show that it contains AI-generated content.” The watermark, identical to the one used by the Galaxy S24 for AI-edited images, is a simple text block at the bottom left that reads “AI-generated content.” The content credentials refer to the C2PA metadata discussed earlier, which can be viewed in the Samsung Gallery app by tapping the “cr” button in the image info dialog.
Alternatively, the image can be uploaded to the official Content Credentials webpage to view the metadata. It’s worth noting that Samsung’s certificate has not yet been verified, an issue the company will hopefully address soon.
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
For those wondering, removing C2PA metadata from an image is trivial using tools like exiftool. Furthermore, most apps do not yet recognize content credentials, requiring the use of either Samsung’s Gallery app or the aforementioned webpage for viewing. Late last year, Google announced plans to add content credential support to Search and Ads and has already rolled out support for a different metadata standard, IPTC, in Google Photos. Hopefully, Google and other tech companies will more broadly adopt C2PA standards, making it easier to verify an image’s source.
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Originally Appeared Here