Recently the Republican National Committee released a video advertisement against the presidential candidate Joe Biden, with a small disclaimer at the top left of the frame about being “built entirely with AI imagery”. Though, it led to some criticism with the size of the disclaimer and its lack of usefulness. This has sparked the conversation over labeling synthetic media, AI-generated content, and deepfakes.
Labels are only useful if they are legible and provide audiences with context about how the content has been created and for what reason it is used. It is not only restricted to AI-generated media, but is practiced in journalism, documentary media, industry, and scientific publications to provide everyone with the necessary information. Despite these labels, watermarks and disclosures, they can still be removed and can lead to confusion when the original source is not clear. With regards to AI-generated media, they will eventually become more mainstream and more widespread, making it necessary to have more effective labeling.
Fortunately, artists and human rights activists have come up with creative ways to address the issue. It becomes a form of creative act, making sure that the labels cannot be removed and offer a deeper understanding how a piece of content was created and if it was done with right intentions. An example of this is seen in the documentary Welcome to Chechnya, where digital disguise is used to protect vulnerable interviewees. It also appears in Kendrick Lamar’s 2022 music video, “The Heart Part 5”, where deepfake technology is combined with lyrics and choreography to comment on deepfakes itself.
Though these practices encourage better labeling for AI-generated media, many technologists are striving to find new ways to identify them with cryptographic provenance and advanced metadata. In the meantime, labels and watermarks should still be used to identify and provide context to the content where possible. It is important to remember the basics of labeling, making sure the size of the font is appropriate and that it gives viewers the necessary information about the media.
