FIELD GUIDE · DEEPFAKES, PROVENANCE & EVIDENCE
A photo, video, voice note, screenshot, or doc can still be evidence. It just can't carry the whole case by itself anymore.
UPDATED 2026-10-12
TL;DR
01
C2PA says Content Credentials check provenance claims and tamper evidence — not whether the photo shows what it claims. The file being authentic and the scene being true are different questions.
02
NIST's synthetic-content report surveys provenance, labeling, watermarking, detection, testing, and auditing. No one hero method. The answer is a stack, not a silver bullet.
03
Microsoft Research's 2026 review of media integrity methods: real limits, real attack surfaces. Combine provenance, watermarking, and fingerprinting — and it still has to survive ordinary editing. Verification has to live through normal edits, not just lab attacks.
04
OpenAI says supported generated media carries C2PA credentials and watermarking, with verification tools spreading across images and audio. Creation-side provenance is shipping, not just standards-drafting.
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Provenance authenticates a history. It can't certify reality.