Stories, live, memes, photos videos dominate our social. And shallowfaked images and videos with false captions or simple edits frequently deceive us. Now proposals for more robust ways to track whether images, video and audio have been manipulated, mis-contextualized or edited, and when and by who are starting to proliferate -- including Adobe's Content Authenticity Initiative and incipient discussions about using reverse video search, similarity search and perceptual hashing to better track content provenance or known manipulated media. However, global civil society needs to be more centered in the discussion around how we track and understand real and faked, and how those should relate to free expression, privacy and access to technology. Using key dilemmas based in WITNESS' experiences engaging on these technologies/initiatives as an interactive framework for discussion we'll talk key questions to address early, how this is happening to-date and what happens going forward.
The goal is to secure greater understanding for participants of emerging infrastructure around shallowfakes and content authenticity that will impact them as well as vulnerable and marginalized communities, and then turn this towards agency in influencing these processes. WITNESS is leading efforts in this area of pushing for greater inclusion, openness and accountability, and for a process that doesn't just centre big media and global tech companies.
We're hoping that many efforts and discussions will continue after Mozfest. Share any ideas you already have for how to continue the work from your session.:WITNESS is directly engaged in advocacy on these issues as an organization working regionally worldwide and globally so all discussions from the session will feed into this (including our own work as a member directly within some of the key initiatives). As importantly we hope to see how additional groups and people can be engaged to be more involved on this issue area, given its implications for civil society.
How will you deal with varying numbers of participants in your session?:WITNESS has many years of experiences facilitating online and offline workshops, and our presenters will be able to adapt to high or low turnout on the day. We would also also add additional in-team facilitators to allow flexibility to respond to larger group size. A lower number of participants would allow for more interactive discussion at all points of the session, whereas with high numbers of participants, the session will take the format of an initial presentation section followed by audience Q&A. We'll use interactive scenarios around the different dilemmas in building authenticity infrastructure and addressing shallowfakes to creatively involve participants.
Program Director of WITNESS which helps people use video and technology for human rights. He currently focuses on how emerging technologies like AI intersect with disinformation and media manipulation.