Adobe has new tools to detect Photoshopped images

Since Photoshop has long been one of the main sources of manipulated photos and images, in an attempt to counter the epidemic of false information, Adobe has also begun to develop tools that can both detect when an image has been manipulated and reverse the changes to reveal the bottom. original.

This is not the first time that Adobe offers solutions to combat the misuse of its products. Photoshop already integrates image recognition tools that prevent any scanning or photo of some bank notes, although it is far from foolproof. This new detection tool has also been designed with a hyper-specific task: to detect the deformed and slightly manipulated face using Photoshop's own Face Aware Liquify tool, which makes it relatively easy to change the size of the eyes, nose, the mouth, or the whole face.

In order to make it more reliable than Photoshop's currency detection tools, Adobe researchers collaborated with colleagues at UC Berkeley to form a network of neurons on a set of face images before and after which were automatically distorted using the Liquify Face Aware tool, as well as a set. of headshots that had been edited by a real artist using the same tool.

The researchers first tested the ability of humans to identify manipulated head shots by showing two images at a time to a group of test subjects and asking them to identify which of the pairs had been modified. Disappointingly, human subjects could not guess which shot in the head had been changed 53% of the time, which would have given a comparable result if they had guessed it downright random. In comparison, the neural network was able to find the image manipulated in 99% of cases. Plus, the detection tool was able to tell where and how a face had been deformed, and even cancel those changes and bring the photos back to their original state.

These results are promising, but this network of neurons still has a long way to go before it can unleash the billions of photos currently floating on the Internet. One of the most useful aspects of Photoshop is that there are countless ways to manipulate and edit a photo. Artists can use any workflow that matches their talents or task. So it's discouraging to see every last photo manipulated, but given the improved capabilities of neural networks, even during the past year, it's no longer an impossible task.