Wacom has found a way to address a controversial technology, blockchain, to blunt the impact of another generative AI. Wacom Yuify is a service, in beta for Adobewhich allows digital artists and photographers to permanently register ownership of their work on the blockchain, and then control the legal use of those images through licensing.
Wacom Yuify is already available as a plugin for Photoshop (ironic fact Adobe’s position on content usage), and a beta version of Clip Paint Studio will be released at the end of June, with the excellent Rebelle coming soon. (Read our Rebelle 7 review for more information about this app, it is recommended.)
When I met Wacom CEO Nobutaka Ide at this year’s VFX Festival, he shared a little more about the brand’s approach to AI, telling me that Wacom is not anti-AI and Yuify is not a “scheme protection for giant platform guys,” but rather a plugin to allow artists to “self-authenticate and self-manage their artwork.” […] “A first step”.
He added: “Put simply, the idea is ‘we protect an artist’s portfolio,’ we authenticate the close connection between an artist and their work.”
The use of blockchain technology might raise an eyebrow among artists burned by NFTs, but as Nobutaka said, Yuify isn’t about a big company making money. The immutable nature of blockchain and SSI (Self-Sovereign Identity) technology is ideal for ensuring that ownership of art has a registered digital footprint.
You can already sign up and try Yuify in Photoshop now. (Image credit: Wacom)
The authenticator works simply and there are details about the file Yuify website, but here’s a summary: Once an artwork is created and exported via Yuify as a JPEG or PNG, it adds an invisible “micro-mark”, non-destructive pixels, into the image, this is then permanently linked to a artist on the blockchain. The image can be traced to the artist and there is also a tool, Yuifinder, to find out if he is the creator of an image (just drag and drop images into the tool).
It is important to point out that Yuify (which is part of the Creative Rights Initiative) also offers a License Builder tool so artists can set terms of use and reuse, as with any images exported through the service these licenses are forever recorded on the blockchain.
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In our chat Nobutaka said that this is not a solution to prevent artworks from being scraped, but it is a step forward. Being able to provide proof of paternity and ownership is a good thing to have. Yuify also acts as an authentication stamp, proof if any were needed that a work of art was created by man.
Yuify is coming to Clip Paint Studio as a beta version this month. (Image credit: Wacom)
