In this era of forgery, ‘Photoshopped’ images on social media have become a handy tool for the doers of fraud. The inventor of the image editing software has finally found a way out.
ADOBE, the US-based software company on Friday 23rd June 2018 introduced to the world a technology that makes the use of AI and Machine learning to detect the images edited by ADOBE PHOTOSHOP. The motive behind inventing such a technology is to make digital media more reliable and authentic. Forensic tools detect the manipulation in the image by minutely inspecting elements like noise distribution, strong edges, lighting and pixel values.
According to Adobe’s Senior Research Scientist VLAD MORARIU, it has been on the work list of the company to create a technology that detects the manipulation in the image as a part of the DARPA Media Forensics program since 2016. His work signifies that image enhancement is the result of a series of methods.
“We focused on three common tampering techniques –
- Splicing, where parts of two different images are combined.
- Copy-move, where objects in a photograph are moved or cloned from one place to another.
- Removal, where an object is removed from a photograph, and filled-in.”
He quoted explaining the science behind this process.
The fact that the enhanced image reveals some details that are not easily visible to a human eye but can be grasped using filters to highlight them is the base for the detection of alterations in the image.
An RGB stream is followed by a noise stream filter to process the detection. As various cameras and photographers have distinct signature noise, it is easy to detect the irregularity in the image. This technology in present might seem far from the reality but it paves a way for reliability and authenticity in the field of digital media in near future. In addition to it, Adobe also wants to use human verification to ensure better security.
Figure 1 :- An example of authentic images, manipulated images, the RGB and noise streams used to detect manipulation, and the results of AI analysis
“To develop a technology is to undertake a great responsibility but it is the responsibility of every individual to make use of it in a constructive way as these technologies are invented to serve our societies and help our industries flourish.”
