The State of Content Authenticity in 2026
As the Content Authenticity Initiative closes out its fifth year, I’ve been reflecting on how much has changed and how consistent our mission has remained.
The CAI began as a small group of collaborators asking a simple question: how can people understand what media is and how it was made? It has now grown into a global community of more than 6,000 members. This growth didn’t happen because of hype, regulation, or any single technology shift. It happened because the problem we set out to solve is real, pervasive, and shared throughout the world. Only an open specification with a system of open contribution and open-source implementation could lead to the solution. The speedy adoption of generative AI has catalyzed digital provenance as the foundation of trust and the C2PA specification, with an ecosystem of extensions like CAWG and JPEG Trust, has purposefully made it easily accessible to all.
Entering year six, we are no longer just defining principles and goals. We are seeing interoperable provenance take shape in the real world. As always when I sit down to write the yearly wrap-up, I am immensely proud of the hundreds of individuals and organizations responsible for the progress of 2025, and equally excited for the work ahead.
The year ahead is uniquely important. Here’s why…
Building the hard way, on purpose
From the beginning, CAI took a deliberately hard path. Open standards, open source, and broad, cross-industry collaboration are very hard to orchestrate with anything resembling a predictable timeline. While the approach takes longer than a more straightforward product development cycle, it is the most important ingredient to achieving adoption. It has required compromise tempered with technical rigor, and a willingness to build for ecosystems rather than platforms. It has been slow, frustrating and rewarding in turns, full of trial-and-error, and ultimately deeply rich in dividends. It is also the only way durable provenance can have the impact it must.
2025 marked a turning point where that long-term strategy began to pay off visibly. Content Credentials, grounded in open specifications and shared governance, are no longer theoretical. They are being created at capture, carried through professional workflows, verified across platforms, and little by little, understood by end users.
That arc, from standards to software to broad societal value, is not accidental. It is the result of sustained investment by engineers, designers, policymakers, creators, journalists, and organizations who believe trust in media and the generative AI technologies that learn from it must be earned, not assumed.
From principles to products
One of the most tangible signs of progress this year was seeing content authenticity reach consumers at scale.
With the launch of the Google Pixel 10 phone supporting C2PA credentials, provenance moved into the hands of millions of people. Not as a niche feature, but as part of everyday media creation and consumption. That shift matters deeply. Transparency only works if it’s present where content is actually made, shared, and experienced.
We saw similar momentum in professional workflows with the release of Sony’s PXW-Z300 video camera, which brings Content Credentials directly into high-end video capture. When provenance begins at the point of origin, it becomes more resilient, more trustworthy, and more useful, especially as media travels across edits, platforms, and contexts.
These are just two moments of many in 2025 that signal something larger. Interoperability is emerging as a practical reality. And with it, a shared understanding of the power of provenance.
Strengthening the foundation: specs and conformance
Equally important, if less visible, were advances in the infrastructure that make interoperability possible.
The launch of the C2PA Conformance Program established a critical layer of trust and accountability. It ensures that implementations of the standard behave consistently and predictably, so Content Credentials can be created, read, and validated across tools and services. This is how an ecosystem earns confidence. Not through claims of utility, but through verifiable behavior. You can see the growing cohort of Conforming Products as it develops on the new C2PA Conformance Explorer.
At the same time, the release of the CAWG 1.2 specification reflected how rapidly real-world usage is shaping the provenance standards ecosystem, driven by real use cases informed by artists, journalists, filmmakers, audio professionals, and AI developers actively using Content Credentials in production for proof of origin and attribution to the creator.
Together the spec, C2PA Conformance Program, and the CAWG extension mark the beginning of a shift from “supported” to truly “relied upon.”
Developer education as a first-class requirement
This year also brought the launch of learn.contentauthenticity.org, which I see as a milestone equal in importance to any technical release.
There are layers of understanding required for the adoption of Content Credentials, and it starts with developers. Until now, we have lacked a clear, straightforward, pragmatic course comprising bite-sized lessons on critical topics. In collaboration with the team at Pixelstream, longtime Content Credentials expert practitioners, the CAI has launched this evolving educational resource that is driving a ton of value. I invite you to try it out and send us your feedback!
Authenticity for enterprise and creators
We also saw major progress in how organizations are operationalizing Content Authenticity. The launch of Adobe’s Content Authenticity for Enterprise addresses the realities faced by brands, publishers, and institutions working with large-scale production workflows. Copyright protection, brand integrity, disclosure, and accountability all benefit from provenance that is standardized, interoperable, and durable.
At the same time, what has been most encouraging is the breadth of creative communities embracing Content Credentials. Visual artists, photographers, filmmakers, journalists, audio professionals, and generative AI companies are converging on a shared approach to attribution and transparency.
Interoperability matters because the future of media is not siloed. Content moves fluidly across formats, tools, platforms, and intent. Provenance must move with it.
Recognition reflecting the collective effort
Earlier this year, I was honored to be included in the TIME100 AI Innovators list. I accepted that recognition as a proxy for the extraordinary work of the CAI team and the broader Content Credentials community.
No single organization, or person, builds transparency infrastructure for the internet. That work happens through open collaboration, shared standards, and a willingness to invest in outcomes that benefit everyone.
TIME’s recognition helps shine a light on the importance of Content Authenticity and its irrefutable relevance in a world increasingly impacted by AI-generated content.
Regulation as catalyst
AI transparency regulation has undeniably accelerated awareness and adoption in 2025. Disclosure requirements and policy discussions have helped bring urgency to conversations about provenance. But it’s important to be clear that regulation did not create this mission.
Long before generative AI entered the mainstream, digital media was already struggling with trust, attribution, and context. The CAI exists to ensure that authentic media can be distinguished from content that has been generated or manipulated, regardless of the tool used to create or change it.
Our focus remains strong, dependable provenance through Durable Content Credentials. Information that persists over time, survives transformation, and earns trust through interoperability. That durability is what allows provenance to support many needs at once. Whether it’s proof of origin, copyright protection, brand safety, journalistic integrity, or consumer understanding, Content Credentials does not privilege any single agenda.
Why 2026 Matters
As we look toward 2026, it’s clear that this is a consequential time. The standards are stabilizing. Open-source implementations are maturing. Interoperable systems are now in production in the real world. Creators and consumers are beginning to expect transparency. Not as an exception, but as a norm. The work ahead is substantial. User experiences must continue to improve. Education must scale alongside adoption. Provenance must remain open, resilient, and adaptable as the media ecosystem itself evolves.
But the trajectory is unmistakable. We are building a future where understanding media—what it is, how it was made, and by whom—becomea a basic part of digital literacy. Where truth is defended not by claims, but by verifiable context. Where trust is supported by systems designed to endure through the rapid ascent of generative media, and beyond.
As I look back over the incredible amount of work that has been done in 2025 and forward to the year ahead, that future feels closer than ever. An important and exciting 2026 awaits! On behalf of everyone working across the Content Authenticity Initiative, the C2PA, and CAWG, thank you for helping turn shared principles into real-world provenance.
Happy new year! May your 2026 overflow with clarity, insight, and of course—provenance!