Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, believes it will soon be more practical to verify authentic media than to detect AI-generated content. Karissa Bell reports for Engadget that Mosseri expects synthetic imagery to overtake human-made content on social platforms. This shift forces a rethink of how apps identify what is real.
Mosseri suggests that the industry should focus on fingerprinting real media instead of chasing fakes. He proposes that camera manufacturers could cryptographically sign images at the moment of capture. This process would create a clear chain of custody for every authentic file. Meta admits that current labels for AI content are unreliable because watermarks are easy to remove or ignore. The company has spent billions on artificial intelligence but acknowledges it cannot consistently detect manipulated media.
According to Mosseri, the era of the polished and perfect Instagram feed is over. He claims that professional aesthetics are no longer a reliable marker of humanity. To prove they are real, creators should instead prioritize raw or even unflattering images. These imperfections serve as evidence that a human, not an algorithm, produced the content.
This new strategy places the burden of proof on creators and hardware makers. While photographers express frustration over changing algorithms, Mosseri argues they are clinging to an outdated vision of the platform. He views the rise of AI slop as inevitable.
