Microsoft leading project aimed to fight fake digital images, videos

Technology giant Microsoft is leading a US$26 million investment venture that aims to tackle digitally altered images and videos.

A foreign news agency has reported that the project is named Truepic and it is a San Diego-based startup that is aimed to take down deepfakes.

Deepfakes are described visuals that have been modified through digital coding or software.

Fake media content is considered to be a big threat in the future as the users can easily be managed to change the visuals and images for different reasons whether it be social or political.

Apart from Microsoft, it has got investment from high profiled software companies include Adobe, Hearst Ventures, Sony Innovation Fund as well.

The individuals from Stone Point Capital have also invested their money in the startup.

Truepic’s design is made to ensure that there are no changes to visual content since it was recorded or filmed.

It also scrutinizes the pixels for any alteration as well as the metadata that includes location, time and date.

Truepic’s Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey McGregor, on the other hand, said that detecting altered media content is not feasible enough.

“Doing detection of a manipulated media post-capture is not a viable path forward,” McGregor was quoted saying in a report.

He added: “It cannot happen at scale, and it cannot happen in a way that is accurate enough to provide business value.”

McGregor further said that the funding will mainly be used to expand from a system in which companies will be availing its modified camera app to one in which their security camera can be included in Android or Apple applications.