Image: C2PA Google announced its Pixel 10 series of phones today, and part of that announcement marked a big step for content authenticity. During the Pixel 10 launch, the tech giant also announced that it is introducing support for the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) Content Credentials on its phones.
Google says photos taken with any Pixel 10 series phone using the Pixel Camera app will have "secure metadata" attached to them that "documents the full journey of that photo from creation to edits. " The Content Credentials will be applied to unedited, and "AI modified images" alike.
People can view that metadata in tools that support the C2PA standard, such as Google Photos, to get a cryptographically-signed breakdown of how the image was created and changed after it was taken. The process of verifying images is still in its early days, but it's a big step forward to have a consumer-grade device that attaches Content Credentials to every image it takes, for free.
"It's a big step forward to have a consumer-grade device that attaches Content Credentials to every image it takes, for free. "
For those unfamiliar, C2PA is a joint industry initiative founded in 2021 to tackle challenges related to digital misinformation. With the rise of advanced AI-created and edited imagery, it is becoming more difficult to understand the reliability and authenticity of images. C2PA aims to promote a standard that allows publishers, creators and consumers to verify the origin and history (including any edits) of digital content via secure metadata automatically attached to images at various stages.
Thus far, adoption has been trickling out to professional-grade cameras, though only for newsrooms. Some Leica models come with support for Content Credentials unlocked out of the box, but Nikon and Sony have only made their authenticity features available for news agencies. Most recently, Sony announced the PXW-Z300, which it said will be the first video camera to record C2PA content credentials. But again, it is meant for news organizations.
Content Credentials will be available on the Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10 Pro XL and Pixel 10 Pro Fold.
Image: Google
Another sticking point for the broader adoption of C2PA standards is that most of the cameras with content authenticity features built in require a separate upgrade license. Users will have to take extra steps to implement Content Credentials and, even more significantly, they will have to pay for it. For most general consumers, that's not going to happen.
C2PA on a phone is a substantial step for content authenticity, especially as mobile photography adopts an increasing number of AI-powered features, some of which are applied automatically when you take the photo. Phones also come with a litany of accessible, easy-to-use AI editing tools. Google was already adding a metadata flag if you used AI on your photos, but now it will add that information from when the image is created. That makes it easy to show that your photo doesn't use AI, with an auditable path back to when it was taken, which is just as important.
. dpreview.com2025-8-20 19:00
