TIP vs C2PA · Why Identity Beats Watermarking

TIP vs C2PA: Why the Next Layer of Content Provenance Has to Be Built on Identity, Not on Watermarks

C2PA earned the camera industry. It deserves the credit. It also leaves three gaps the next decade of AI cannot afford to leave open: a verified human at the signing edge, a federated registry no single company controls, and a post-quantum signature that will outlast the threat model. Here is what that next layer looks like.

An honest, side-by-side reading of the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) standard and the Trust Identity Protocol (TIP). The essay steelmans C2PA's three substantial wins, then names the three gaps that motivated TIP: identity, federation, and post-quantum cryptography. Closes with where the two standards should converge, and how publishers, regulators, and platforms should think about both.

Read the full essay at https://theailab.org/insights/tip-vs-c2pa