ZK-JPEG proves an image was compressed from a secret original
ZK-JPEG: Zero-Knowledge Image Editing and Compression
Deepfake generators are getting easier to use, and camera attestation via digital signatures breaks the moment an image is compressed or edited. ZK-JPEG is a cryptographic tool that proves a published JPEG was correctly compressed from a secret, committed input, and can fold a large family of image transformations into that same proof at minimal cost. Built on PicoZK, it turns Python image-editing code into a zero-knowledge circuit for the LPZK proof system.
Prior works use zero-knowledge (ZK) to prove a published image's edit history, but they do not survive lossy encoding such as the JPEG format.
- jamienk
Hasn't this crossed over into being a philosophical question? You want to attest to reality or provenance. But then you start making lists of "acceptable" changes: file format; compression; color-correction; size; taking "medium" into account... It then slowly slides into "average human perceptibility"; "irrelevant details"; keeping the "spirit" of the image intact; judging the intention or motive of the user or of the viewer; aligning the image with "values"; appropriate/legal use... etc. Not sure what the end-game is?
We are trying to make images in the AI era be as reliable as they were pre-AI? But they were not reliable pre-AI, it was just more difficult to intentionally doctor them.
- mvid
Tie this into the Apple/Android/Sony/Leica signed photos, and you get provenance from capture to publish
- AmazingEveryDay
I'm trying to think of recent real-world examples where the reality of the photo was of major importance. Photographs just don't seem to have the same significance, even as potential verification of their realness becomes more achievable.