Content Authentication is Key To Trust in the AI Age
Content authentication has emerged as one of the most urgent challenges facing communicators today. As AI accelerates the creation of synthetic and manipulated content, industry leaders are warning that trust—the foundation of effective communication—is under threat. In a recent discussion led by Davis+Gilbert in partnership with the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI), PAGE, and Tauth Labs, a clear consensus emerged: communicators must take the lead in proving what’s real and building credibility through verified, transparent content.
In her opening remarks, PAGE CEO Rochelle Ford called content authentication a communications “leadership imperative.” Recognizing the transformative impact of AI, she said it has “opened the door to a flood of synthetic and manipulated content.” Ford underscored the stakes with a reminder that “trust is the currency of everything that we do in communications.” Embedding digital credentials, she added, helps audiences confirm that what they see truly originates from professional communicators.
Trust as the Core Currency
Bill Davies, CEO of Racepoint Global, framed the issue through an agency lens. He emphasized that protecting brand IP in the AI age is now central to what agencies do as trusted advisors. With generative video tools like Sora2 making it simple to produce realistic fake videos, Davies noted that content authentication is now “reputation management in the AI age.”
Technology Meets Transparency
Simon Erskine Locke, founder and CEO of Tauth Labs and author of a new white paper Communications and Content Provenance Authentication, moderated the session. He shared insights from his firm’s work helping communications teams implement authentication frameworks.
Santiago Lyon, Head of Advocacy and Education for Adobe’s Content Authenticity Initiative, traced the movement’s origins back to 2019, when Adobe researchers foresaw AI’s potential to upend public trust. With founding members including Microsoft, Intel, and the BBC—and recent additions like Google and OpenAI—the CAI launched the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authentication (C2PA), establishing an open-source standard for the authentication and verification of the provenance of digital assets.
Lyon noted that C2PA is now embedded across key parts of the content pipeline—from image capture in cameras to editing software like Adobe, and into major media publishers such as Agence France-Presse. “Over the next few years, we expect provenance to be foundational for every industry that has an interest in establishing authenticity,” he said.
For communicators, this signals a paradigm shift: authentication will soon be as integral as brand safety or media monitoring in maintaining audience confidence.
The New Trust Stack
Adam Kahn, who leads trust and safety efforts at LinkedIn, described provenance as “a foundation for trust.” Verification, he said, ensures that “content is from people who are who they say they are.” As generative AI expands the tools available to bad actors, Kahn warned that communicators face “a growing velocity of fraud.” His call to action: “Become evangelists of provenance.”
Natalie Monbiot, founder of Virtual Human Economy, offered a creator economy perspective. As an early adopter of content credentials in developing AI avatars, she framed provenance as the foundation of a “trustworthy AI business.” For her, transparency around how AI is used is essential to building long-term credibility and consumer confidence.
Law, Policy, and Provenance
Legal context came from Davis+Gilbert partners Richard Eisert and Michael Lasky. Eisert highlighted California’s AI Transparency Act, which mandates that users be able to see provenance data. Both lawyers cautioned that disclosure requirements around AI and advertising apply broadly—across paid, earned, and shared communications. Eisert also warned that potential changes to federal law could override state mandates, requiring communicators to closely monitor a shifting regulatory environment.
Credentials as the New Competitive Edge
Closing the discussion, Lyon reminded attendees that content credentials are becoming table stakes: “You cannot function in an imagined future without content credentials, because everyone else has them—and their absence puts you at a disadvantage.”
Monbiot added that credentials are about more than just trust: “They also signal quality. The industry is building a countermeasure to untrustworthy content.”
For communications leaders, the takeaway is clear: in an era where synthetic content is flooding the information landscape, authentication isn’t just about protecting truth—it’s about preserving reputation.
