Media conglomerate Fox has launched the public beta version of the blockchain-based AI-made content tracking platform named Verify in collaboration with software solutions studio Polygon Labs.
Polygon first delivered the announcement on its X (formerly Twitter) post on January 9. In the post, Polygon said discerning truth from lies becomes more challenging as AI tools and AI-made content flood the market due to their ease of use and convenience.
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For this reason, Fox partnered with Polygon to launch the Polygon POS-based Verify to register and grant registration rights to AI platforms.
“This means any media company can register content, from articles to audio to images, and grant usage rights to AI platforms. Using the Verify tool, individual pieces of content are cryptographically signed on Polygon PoS, allowing consumers to identify content from trusted sources,” wrote the company.
Fox previously launched the platform’s closed beta version in August 2023, where the company’s in-house Fox Technology team built Verify based on Polygon POS due to the protocol’s affordability, ease of use, and working speed.
The Verify protocol establishes the origin and history of original journalism by cryptographically signing individual pieces of content on the blockchain
Melody Hildebrandt, Fox Corp.’s chief technology officer.
So far, Verify has successfully registered over 89,000 content pieces from Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Sports, and Fox TV affiliates since its public beta launch.
Concerns about AI-made content
AI-made content continues trending due to its ease of creation by virtually anyone with access to AI tools. Because of the popularity of AI-based content creation tools, concerns are rising on how these tools would only exacerbate misinformation, loss of public trust, and ethical challenges.
According to a report by the Freedom House in 2023, governments and politicians in at least 16 countries have used generative AI to influence public debate and smear opponents to shift public opinion in their favor.
In March 2023, several AI-made images depicting former US President Donald Trump took the internet by storm. Made by Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins, these Midjourney AI-made images displayed Trump in an imaginary scenario where authorities arrested him days before his indictment date in late March 2023.
The images created a whirlpool of debates concerning the use of AI in creating potentially provocative pictures. During the occasion, Midjourney allegedly banned Higgins from further using the platform.
Despite the parodic nature of these AI-made Trump images, they nonetheless have the power to potentially convince people that the arrest was a real-life event.
Due to these trends, it becomes evident how many industry actors are looking forward to developing tools to combat AI-caused misinformation.
Blockchain for combating misinformation
Although people commonly associate blockchain with decentralized finance activities, the technology successfully discovered its use beyond the financial industry. One such use is content verification, a capability industries are developing to combat AI content-caused misinformation.
In an X post by Polygon Labs CEO Mark Boiron, Boiron said Verify shows how blockchain can help corporations and institutions prove content provenance and track the origins of content spreading across the internet.
“Given the natural fit of blockchains with content provenance with the rise of AI, I am excited to see Polygon protocols again being used at the forefront of another new use case,” said Boiron.
Due to blockchain’s decentralized nature, the technology has the potential to ensure content provenance via transparent digital ledgers.
Other characteristics common in blockchain, like integrity, immutability, timestamping, and provenance may also be beneficial in tracking the origins of AI-made content. Fox’s Verify also includes these characteristics, although Verify seems to rely on these qualities to track the content’s origins instead of verifying their real-life accuracy.
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