Envision if every JPEG image file had blockchain-protected information that would verify — or disprove — a photograph’s origins. The idea may be more than just a thought. The same organization that designed the JPEG desires to utilize the blockchain to decrease fake news and fight image fraud.

The Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) is preparing workshops to obtain feedback into the possibility of building a standard blockchain that could both help viewers immediately recognize a faked photo and assist photographers in fighting image theft.

At the meeting in Sydney, Australia, the committee started investigating the probability of generating a new JPEG compression that adopts artificial intelligence.

Blockchain employs various computers to collect data to save information that can’t be modified. Most commonly connected with cryptocurrency, this isn’t the first time that accumulating data to multiple locations in an unalterable way has been recommended as an option to help photographers fight image theft.

KodakOne is a system that applies web crawlers to locate image piracy and license images, but the system is confined to payments in KodakCoin.

Nevertheless, what JPEG wants to do is build a standardized system that employs encryption, watermarking, hash signatures, or a combination inside a photograph’s metadata.

The JPEG format is extensively used, making a standardized system, in the same way, could produce a broadly-used system that anyone could access without signing up for a program.

By designing a standard, any application could use the metadata built into the photo to protect images — possibly, with such a standard, social media networks could even examine the image’s metadata and recognize faked photos at upload.

The keyword, though, is “could” — recently, the committee is just in the consultation phases and is conversing with industry leaders to ascertain what such a system could be used for and what should be part of the standardization.

The choice group has said, nevertheless, that they’ve recognized “great potential” in the technology. The group has been operating workshops on the topic since 2018 but held an open discussion at their latest meeting.

Besides recognizing fake news and decreasing copyright violations, JPEG proposes that such a system could be utilized for media forensics, along with applications in security and privacy. The current discussion also hinted at the possibility of applying the technology for smart contracts.

The group also examined creating a new standard JPEG compression utilizing artificial intelligence during the meeting in Sydney. The organization is presently requesting for research to demonstrate whether or not A.I. can do a better job at image compression, sustaining details while decreasing file size.

“The efforts to find new and improved solutions in image compression have led JPEG to explore new opportunities relying on machine learning for coding,” professor Touradj Ebrahimi, the convenor of the JPEG Committee, said in a statement.

“After rigorous analysis in the form of explorations during the last 12 months, JPEG believes that it is time to initiate a standardization process formally, and consequently, has issued a call for evidence for image compression based on machine learning.”