Countering modern disinformation requires moving beyond AI detection toward embedded trust signals that travel with content. In this talk, I present media provenance as an approach for encoding verifiable information about origin and modification directly into media assets. I will describe our work on embedding durable provenance signals using digital watermarking, content fingerprinting, and cryptographically signed metadata (C2PA) enabling provenance information to persist across distribution channels. Beyond its role in content authenticity, I will show how provenance can also underpin new models for control, consent and compensation for creators whose work contributes to model training. I will summarise our recent ’Time to ACCCT’ framework, that recommends media provenance as a digital infrastructure for fair recognition and reward of content use in the age of generative AI. I will demonstrate how this lays the foundatoins for a decentralized Creative Content Exchange, enabling creators to gain greater agency over, and monetize, the re-use of their content in the age of Generative AI.
