The Future Normal · Part 1
Certified Media
What if you could trust the authenticity of the media and content you consume?
What if you could trust the authenticity of the media and content you consume?
The Trend
As manipulated content gets cheaper and more convincing, proving what is real becomes urgent for everyone. The same technology that enables convincing fabrications can also expose them, by capturing the provenance of an image or video at the moment it is created. In the future normal, people will look for trusted third-party validation before believing content, and that habit will pair with much sharper media literacy.
The Instigator
A San Diego startup launched in 2015 to restore trust in photos and videos by embedding verified time and location data at the point of capture. Its partnership with Qualcomm builds that verification into the chips powering almost every non-Apple phone, putting the technology in billions of devices. NGOs and citizen journalists already use it to capture provable images in conflict zones, and insurers use it to confirm the claims their customers file.
Imagining The Future Normal
What if the real shift is cultural?
The spread of lighthearted deepfakes (like the viral image of the late Pope Francis in a puffer jacket) heightened public awareness of AI capabilities, but also blunted fearmongering. Widespread exposure has meant many people no longer have any expectations of digital content being “real,” which creates a trust gap affecting everyone’s ability to believe anything we see or read.
Where will we seek out verified content?
While most people seem comfortable navigating through an ocean of synthetic content in their social feeds, there will be plenty of situations where authenticity matters: think dating sites, home rentals, insurance claims, and more. As always, context is everything.
Will trusted brands become the new arbiters of truth?
For all the recent skepticism and undermining of the mainstream media, established brands and platforms may become the de facto certification authorities. People will gravitate toward content ecosystems they trust, created or funded by brands they recognize, rather than solely relying on technical verification systems.
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