When Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri looks into the rapidly approaching future of AI-generated content, he sees a massive problem: how to tell authentic media apart from the kind made with AI technology.

In a recent Threads post on the topic, Mosseri said that social media platforms like Instagram will be under mounting pressure to help users tell the difference. Mosseri argued that major platforms will initially succeed at spotting and labeling AI content, but that they'll begin to falter as AI imitates reality with more precision.

"There is already a growing number of people who believe, as I do, that it will be more practical to fingerprint real media than fake media," Mosseri wrote.

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That "fingerprint" could be created from within cameras themselves, if their manufacturers "cryptographically sign images at capture, creating a chain of custody."

"We need to label AI-generated content clearly, and work with manufacturers to verify authenticity at capture — fingerprinting real media, not just chasing fake," Mosseri added.

Such labeling could help people navigate the AI slop that's flooding the internet. (Mashable's Tim Marcin has explained how we got to this moment.)

Mosseri also wrote that identifying the authenticity of creator content will shape the way people relate to that media: "We need to surface credibility signals about who's posting so people can decide who to trust."