ITN signs deal to protect video archive from AI and license content

Partnership with Open Origins sees ITN as a launch partner for a new AI licensing marketplace.

Dan Walker dressed in a suit and holding a stack of paper outside 10 Downing Street, with other journalists in the background — An example of news coverage that will be in ITN's archive: Dan Walker at 10 Downing Street on his first day for 5 News on Monday 6 June 2022. Picture: ITN

Broadcast news production company ITN has become the first UK news organisation to announce a deal seeking to safeguard its archive from the threat of AI.

The deal with tech company Open Origins will see every one of ITN‘s more than a million video clips of news footage validated and secured using blockchain technology.

The fear is that as AI content makes up more of the internet, it will be harder to distinguish what is real. The idea is to give ITN’s content proof of originality if it is exploited to make disinformation, including potentially deepfakes.

Each item in ITN’s archive will be given a unique identifier on the blockchain, which will act as a mark of provenance demonstrating that the original, untampered-with content is safe.

If the archive got corrupted, putting the legitimacy of its content at risk, it would be possible to cross-reference every image and video with its unique identifier to know what had been changed.

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The partnership also marks ITN is a also a launch partner for a new AI licensing marketplace for video content from Open Origins.

The marketplace will give AI apps, companies, universities and research institutions access to video training data.

Protecting ITN archive will ‘reassure viewers and clients’

ITN director of news distribution and commercial innovation Tami Hoffman said: “The ITN archive is a unique repository of Britain’s cultural history over 70 years and we are excited to be using new technology to protect this valuable asset.

“As the information ecosystem becomes increasingly polluted with synthetic material, news organisations will have to work hard to retain audience trust.

“Partnering with Open Origins allows ITN to reassure its viewers and clients by ringfencing the archive from future threats.”

ITN, which today produces ITV News, Channel 4 News and Channel 5 News, was founded in 1955. The company’s other work includes a live sport operation, putting together live debate programmes such as ITV’s head-to-head for the upcoming UK election and creating factual content for international streamers and broadcasters.

Open Origins founder and chief executive Dr Mansoor Ahmed-Rengers said: “We’re reaching a tipping point where content generated by humans is indistinguishable from AI-generated content.

“To prove content is authentic, Open Origins proves that it is human-made and copyright compliant.”