Alibaba Orange Shield Technology Provides Digital Watermarking Support to Standardize AI-Generated Content Identification
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The use of digital watermarking and regulatory requirements to identify AI-generated content has become an industry consensus. Recently, the Cybersecurity Standard Practice Guide—Content Identification Methods for Generative AI Services (Draft for Comments) issued by the National Information Security Standardization Technical Committee explicitly proposed that digital watermark identifiers should be embedded in AI-generated images, audio, and video content. When outputting such content in file formats, digital watermark identifiers should also be included in the file metadata.
Digital watermarking is a technology that embeds information into carriers, which not only reduces the risk of 'deepfake' but also assists artists and content creators impacted by AI-generated content. Alibaba has made early advancements in both AIGC and digital watermarking fields, comprehensively applying digital watermarking technology to protect AIGC-generated content such as audio, video, images, and text. Moreover, Alibaba's digital watermarking technology also plays a significant role in non-AIGC scenarios, including data security, data labeling, copyright protection, and traceability of multimedia content.
As a cybersecurity application pilot demonstration unit recognized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Cyberspace Administration of China, and 10 other ministries, Alibaba Orange Shield Technology has been deeply involved in digital watermarking for years, filing over 70 patent applications and driving industry progress with its accumulated technical expertise.
To date, Orange Shield Technology, in collaboration with Alibaba's standardization team, has completed the integration of Alibaba's digital watermarking technology into communication industry standards, IEEE international standards, and Chinese national standards, with standardization efforts progressing steadily. In July 2023, after more than a year of work, Alibaba's Robustness Testing Method for Digital Watermarking of Unstructured Data in Telecommunication and Internet Networks entered the review stage as a communication industry standard. In March 2023, the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) officially approved the project Standard for Evaluation Method of Robustness of Digital Watermarking Implementation in Digital Contents led by Alibaba, which entered the drafting phase in July 2023.
Notably, beyond evaluation solutions, Alibaba's watermarking technology has also gained recognition from national regulatory authorities and standardization bodies. The company successfully led the establishment of the Chinese national standard Information Security Technology—Guidelines for Digital Watermarking Implementation, which passed the public project review in May 2023 and underwent a national cybersecurity standard defense in June. The standard is currently under development.
Orange Shield Technology's digital watermarking applications span both AIGC and non-AIGC content. Its multi-faceted standardization efforts have positioned it as a technical supporter for the Cyberspace Administration of China in formulating AI-generated content identification guidelines, with deep involvement in drafting the AI-Generated Content Identification Methods. Orange Shield's technical standards and industry practices in audio, video, text, and other fields have been adopted by regulators, ensuring compliance with the Cybersecurity Standard Practice Guide—Content Identification Methods for Generative AI Services (Draft for Comments) while fully implementing regulatory requirements in Alibaba's AI-generated services.
Technically, Orange Shield's digital watermarking products support embedding and extracting digital information in videos, images, and documents without affecting visual quality or integrity. Its application of image tampering detection technology was selected as an outstanding case in the 2022 National Cybersecurity Awareness Week.
From a developmental perspective, Orange Shield's watermarking technology covers digital media such as images, documents, videos, audio, and web pages. Its digital video watermarking has passed China's authoritative ChinaDRM certification and the internationally recognized Cartesian certification (the highest standard for video watermarking tests approved by Hollywood).
Thanks to its technical reliability, Orange Shield Technology's digital watermarking solution has been deployed across multiple business applications including Amap, Xianyu, Taobao, and Tmall. The technology has been integrated into over 1,000 applications, with nearly 6 billion calls processed, covering more than 100 million files and intercepting hundreds of data leakage risks. Meanwhile, Orange Shield's digital watermarking products have been commercially launched and can be applied in various scenarios such as copyright protection, leakage traceability, AIGC identification, information transmission, and document authentication. Through Alibaba Cloud, the company has provided high-quality watermarking products to the wider society, with over 20 merchants having adopted the technology.