DeCenter Workshop: I Wasn’t There: Applications of Blockchain to Privacy Preserving Reality Protection
December 4, 2023
Location: Friend Center Room 113 (Convocation Room)
The notion of objective reality and verifiable history is at stake as the cost of generating synthetic media declines and the difficulty of identifying fake images and recordings grows. Advances in AI will create demand for verifying the reality of claimed events. Some leading companies have already coalesced around standards for content provenance, and the largest AI firms are already committing to building systems which watermark all content. But it is unlikely that cartel-based solutions will work for long.
As smaller bespoke LLMs become available and more organizations develop highly capable image and video creation systems, new uses cases for decentralized provenance chains will emerge. News media will find value in being able to verify whether a recorded event actually happened. Individuals from CEOs to high school teachers who face reputational risk from manipulated media will need a way to verify their activities against some immutable record in a privacy-preserving manner. And insurance companies will face increasing losses from fraudulent claims enabled by manipulated media.
This workshop focuses on building a vision for an ecosystem of technologies and services that can manage and ideally prevent the coming epistemic collapse. We will bring together leading industry and academic thinkers to discuss what can be done today, what can be done tomorrow by assembling existing technologies in new ways, and where we need fundamental innovation.
Participation in this workshop is by invitation only. For questions, please contact decenter@princeton.edu.
Program
Monday, December 04
11:45 am
12:00 pm
Check-in
12:00 pm
1:15 pm
Lunch and Opening Remarks
Andrew Chignell, Princeton University
Jacob Shapiro, Princeton University
Jaswinder Pal Singh, Princeton University
1:15 pm
2:15 pm
Café Session One: What are the Threats from Manipulated Media which Content Provenance Will Not Solve?
Table 1: How manipulated media is contributing to epistemic decay.
Facilitator: Ray Block, Rand Corporation.
Table 2: On-chain evidence and off-chain truth.
Facilitators: Andrew Bailey, Yale-NUS College, and Bradley Rattler, University of Wyoming.
Table 3: Coming challenges to media integrity.
Facilitator: Claire Leibowicz, Partnership on AI, and Joel Finkelstein, Network Contagion Research Institute.
2:15 pm
2:35 pm
Coffee Break
2:35 pm
3:35 pm
Café Session Two: How can We Leverage Decentralized Technologies to Stave Them Off?
Table 1: Limits of media forensics and the role of semantic information.
Facilitator: Wael Abd-Almageed, University of Southern California.
Table 2: Decentralized approaches to truth telling.
Facilitator: Yevgeny Simkin, Samizdat Online.
Table 3: Human-machine interaction in detection.
Facilitator: Matthew Groh, Northwestern Kellogg School of Management.
3:35 pm
3:55 pm
Coffee Break
3:55 pm
4:55 pm
Café Session Three: What are the Business, Legal, and Technological Enablers We Need?
Table 1: Federal and Private Sector Roles in Enabling Information Markets
Facilitators: Joe Cisewski, EignenLabs, and David Bray, The Stimson Center.
Table 2: Approaches to manipulation resistance.
Facilitators: Matt Weinberg, Princeton University, and Matheus Venturyne Xavier Ferreira, Harvard University.
Table 3: Technological enablers of democratic discourse.
Facilitators: Mihir Kashirsagar, Princeton University, and Doowan Lee, Trust in Media Cooperative / Georgetown University
4:55 pm
5:10 pm
Closing Remarks
Jacob N. Shapiro, Professor of Politics and International Affairs, School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
Andrew Chignell, Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor in Religion, Philosophy, and the University Center for Human Values, Princeton University
5:10 pm
6:15 pm
Cocktail Reception
Organizers
Andrew Chignell
Jacob N. Shapiro
Lodging and Parking
The Princeton-Mercer Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau lists major hotel and conference centers, boutique hotels, inns, resorts and bed and breakfasts near campus.
Campus is located in Princeton, N.J., approximately one mile west of U.S. Route 1. Metered parking is available on streets around campus. On campus weekday visitor parking is available at the Princeton Stadium Drive Garage, with frequent TigerTransit bus service to stops on Washington Road, Nassau Street and University Place.
Parking
The closest places to park in the town of Princeton are the following two garages located in downtown Princeton:
Spring Street Garage – 28 Spring St, Princeton, NJ 08542
Hulfish Garage – 7 Hulfish St, Princeton, NJ 08542
Stadium Drive Garage – Visitors who wish to park on Princeton’s campus, can learn more about visitor parking in the Stadium Drive Garage, how to get a permit to park there, and the available shuttle service.