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Steg.AI puts deep learning on the job in a clever evolution of watermarking on August 1, 2023 at 11:01 am

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Watermarking an image to mark is one’s own is something that has value across countless domains, but these days it’s more difficult than just adding a logo in the corner. Steg.AI lets creators embed a nearly invisible watermark using deep learning, defying the usual “resize and resave” countermeasures.

Ownership of digital assets has had a complex few years, what with NFTs and AI generation shaking up what was a fairly low-intensity field before. If you really need to prove the provenance of a piece of media, there have been ways of encoding that data into images or audio, but these tend to be easily defeated by trivial changes like saving the PNG as a JPEG. More robust watermarks tend to be visible or audible, like a plainly visible pattern or code on the image.

An invisible watermark that can easily be applied, just as easily detected, and which is robust against transformation and re-encoding is something many a creator would take advantage of. IP theft, whether intentional or accidental, is rife online and the ability to say “look, I can prove I made this” — or that an AI made it — is increasingly vital.

Steg.AI has been working on a deep learning approach to this problem for years, as evidenced by this 2019 CVPR paper and the receipt of both Phase I and II SBIR government grants. Co-founders (and co-authors) Eric Wengrowski and Kristin Dana worked for years before that in academic research; Dana was Wengrowski’s PhD advisor.

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While Wengrowski noted that though they have made numerous advances since 2019, the paper does show the general shape of their approach.

“Imagine a generative AI company creates an image and Steg watermarks it before delivering it to the end user,” he wrote in an email to TechCrunch. “The end user might post the AI-generated image on social media. Copies of the deployed image will still contain the Steg.AI watermark, even if the image is resized, compressed, screenshotted, or has its traditional metadata deleted. Steg.AI watermarks are so robust that they can be scanned from an electronic display or printout using an iPhone camera.”

Although they understandably did not want to provide the exact details of the process, it works more or less like this: instead of having a static watermark that must be awkwardly layered over a piece of media, the company has a matched pair of machine learning models that customize the watermark to the image. The encoding algorithm identifies the best places to modify the image in such a way that people won’t perceive it, but that the decoding algorithm can pick out easily — since it uses the same process, it knows where to look.

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The company described it as a bit like an invisible and largely immutable QR code, but would not say how much data can actually be embedded in a piece of media. If it really is anything like a QR code, it can have a kilobyte or three, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but is enough for a URL, hash, and other plaintext data. Multiple-page documents or frames in a video could have unique codes, multiplying this amount. But this is just my speculation.

Steg.AI provided multiple images with watermarks for me to inspect, some of which you can see embedded here. I was also provided (and asked not to share) the matching pre-watermark images; while on close inspection some perturbations were visible, if I didn’t know to look for them I likely would have missed them, or written them off as ordinary JPEG artifacts.

Yes, this one is watermarked.

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Here’s another, of Hokusai’s most famous work:

Image Credits: Hokusai / The Art Institute of Chicago

You can imagine how such a subtle mark might be useful for a stock photography provider, a creator posting their images on Instagram, a movie studio distributing pre-release copies of a feature, or a company looking to mark its confidential documents. And these are all use cases Steg.AI is looking at.

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It wasn’t a home run from the start. Early on, after talking with potential customers, “we realized that a lot of our initial product ideas were bad,” recalled Wengrowski. But they found that robustness, a key differentiator of their approach, was definitely valuable, and since then have found traction among “companies where there is strong consumer appetite for leaked information,” such as consumer electronics brands.

“We’ve really been surprised by the breath of customers who see deep value in our products,” he wrote. Their approach is to provide enterprise-level SaaS integrations, for instance with a digital asset management platform — that way no one has to say watermark that before sending it out; all media is marked and tracked as part of the normal handling process.

Concept illustration of a Steg.AI app verifying an image.

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An image could be traced back to its source, and changes made along the way could conceivably be detected as well. Or alternatively, the app or API could provide a confidence level that the image has not been manipulated — something many an editorial photography manager would appreciate.

This type of thing has the potential to become an industry standard — both because they want it and because it may in the future be required. AI companies just recently agreed to pursue research around watermarking AI content, and something like this would be a useful stopgap while a deeper method of detecting generated media is considered.

Steg.AI has gotten this far with NSF grants and angel investment totaling $1.2 million, but just announced a $5 million A round led by Paladin Capital Group, with participation from Washington Square Angels, the NYU Innovation Venture Fund, and angel investors, Alexander Lavin, Eli Adler, Brian Early and Chen-Ping Yu.

Top AI companies visit the White House to make ‘voluntary’ safety commitments

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​ Watermarking an image to mark is one’s own is something that has value across countless domains, but these days it’s more difficult than just adding a logo in the corner. Steg.AI lets creators embed a nearly invisible watermark using deep learning, defying the usual “resize and resave” countermeasures. Ownership of digital assets has had a 

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Netanyahu’s UN Speech Triggers Diplomatic Walkouts and Mass Protests

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What Happened at the United Nations

On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, defending Israel’s ongoing military operations in Gaza. As he spoke, more than 100 delegates from over 50 countries stood up and left the chamber—a rare and significant diplomatic walkout. Outside the UN, thousands of protesters gathered to voice opposition to Netanyahu’s policies and call for accountability, including some who labeled him a war criminal. The protest included activists from Palestinian and Jewish groups, along with international allies.

Why Did Delegates and Protesters Walk Out?

The walkouts and protests were a response to Israel’s continued offensive in Gaza, which has resulted in widespread destruction and a significant humanitarian crisis. Many countries and individuals have accused Israel of excessive use of force, and some international prosecutors have suggested Netanyahu should face investigation by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, including claims that starvation was used as a weapon against civilians. At the same time, a record number of nations—over 150—recently recognized the State of Palestine, leaving the United States as the only permanent UN Security Council member not to join them.

International Reaction and Significance

The diplomatic walkouts and street protests demonstrate increasing global concern over the situation in Gaza and growing support for Palestinian statehood. Several world leaders, including Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, showed visible solidarity with protesters. Petro called for international intervention and, controversially, for US troops not to follow orders he viewed as supporting ongoing conflict. The US later revoked Petro’s visa over his role in the protests, which he argued was evidence of a declining respect for international law.

BILATERAL MEETING WITH THE PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL Photo credit: Matty STERN/U.S. Embassy Jerusalem

Why Is This News Important?

The Gaza conflict is one of the world’s most contentious and closely-watched issues. It has drawn strong feelings and differing opinions from governments, activists, and ordinary people worldwide. The United Nations, as an international organization focused on peace and human rights, is a key arena for these debates. The events surrounding Netanyahu’s speech show that many nations and voices are urging new action—from recognition of Palestinian rights to calls for sanctions against Israel—while discussion and disagreement over the best path forward continue.

This episode at the UN highlights how international diplomacy, public protests, and official policy are all intersecting in real time as the search for solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains urgent and unresolved.

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Is a Nuclear-Powered Alien Spacecraft Flying Toward Earth?

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A mysterious interstellar object speeding through our solar system has reignited debates about extraterrestrial technology — and whether Earth might currently be under quiet observation.

The object, known as 3I/ATLAS, is only the third confirmed interstellar visitor ever detected. Unlike ordinary comets, however, this cosmic traveler has baffled astronomers with its unusual brightness, strange trajectory, and lack of a visible cometary tail. While most scientists cautiously describe it as a natural body, one leading astrophysicist believes something much stranger is at play.

Harvard Scientist’s Bold Claim

Professor Avi Loeb of Harvard University, head of the Galileo Project, has suggested that 3I/ATLAS may in fact be a nuclear-powered alien spacecraft designed to test how humanity would respond to an interstellar visitor. He argues that its flight path is improbably precise, bringing it close to Mars, Venus, and Earth — a pattern highly unlikely to occur by chance.

Loeb also points out that telescope images show a glow inconsistent with ordinary dust behavior. Instead of trailing behind like a comet, the halo-like light appears to extend in unusual ways, sparking debate about whether the object could be emitting energy of its own.

Headed Toward Earth’s Neighborhood

3I/ATLAS is expected to make its closest approach in late 2025, passing near Mars before swinging by the inner solar system. Although Earth itself will be on the opposite side of the Sun when it comes closest, the alignment will still enable space-based observatories to capture sharper data.

Loeb has called on NASA and other agencies to use spacecraft already stationed near Mars or Jupiter — including the Juno mission — to take high-resolution photographs. He believes such efforts could reveal whether the interstellar object is truly natural, or the first technological probe humanity has ever encountered.

Should We Be Worried?

While most astronomers argue caution before jumping to alien conclusions, Loeb insists that scientific openness is key. “If it’s just a comet, we learn something new,” he said. “But if it’s a spacecraft, it would be the most important discovery in human history.”

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For now, 3I/ATLAS remains a mysterious speck on astronomers’ charts, drifting closer with each passing day. Whether it proves to be a frozen remnant of another star system or something far more advanced, the interstellar visitor has already succeeded in one mission: reminding us how vast and unpredictable the universe really is.

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AI Automation Could Cause Up to 20% Unemployment—A Workforce on the Brink

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Stark Warning from Anthropic CEO Highlights Rapid Job Displacement Risk

The looming threat of widespread unemployment due to AI automation has sparked intense debate among experts, business leaders, and policymakers. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic—the company behind the influential AI language model Claude—issued a stark warning that has sent shockwaves through corporate America:

“Up to half of all entry-level white collar jobs could disappear within the next one to five years, potentially pushing unemployment rates as high as 20% during this period.”

This dramatic forecast paints a picture of a rapid and unsettling transformation in the workforce, driven by AI technologies that can perform complex cognitive tasks.

Balancing Predictions: Worst-Case Scenarios vs. Moderate Impact

However, this forecast represents one end of a spectrum of expert predictions. While Amodei’s warning highlights the worst-case scenario driven by the swift adoption of AI agents capable of coding, analyzing data, drafting legal documents, and managing workflows around the clock, other analyses suggest a more moderate impact. For example, Goldman Sachs estimates that AI could temporarily displace about 6-7% of U.S. jobs, with unemployment rising by approximately half a percentage point during the adjustment period. Their research anticipates a more gradual transition with a mixture of job disruption and creation.

The Unprecedented Speed and Scope of AI-Driven Job Disruption

The truth likely lies somewhere in between. AI is advancing at unprecedented speed, and the scope of jobs affected spans far beyond blue-collar roles to white-collar positions that required college degrees and years of training. Entry-level roles such as customer service representatives, data entry clerks, junior analysts, and administrative assistants face the greatest near-term risk. Mid-level roles in accounting, marketing, law, and engineering could soon follow, with companies already laying off workers citing AI-driven efficiencies.

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Preparing for an AI-Transformed Workforce: Adaptation Is Essential

Ultimately, the AI-driven job transformation is no longer a distant prospect but unfolding now. Whether unemployment spikes to 20% or stabilizes at lower levels depends on many factors, including business adoption rates, government policies, and the ability of workers to reskill. What is certain is that the workforce of tomorrow will look very different from today—and the time to prepare is right now.

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