Verifying authenticity (blockchain and AI)

What is verifying authenticity with blockchain and AI?

These are modern ways of supporting a work's authenticity with technology rather than paper and a specialist's eye alone. They include blockchain certificates — a digital record of origin that cannot be quietly rewritten — and artificial intelligence that recognises an artist's hand (tools such as Art Recognition or Veracity Protocol). It is in effect an attempt to give the old question of authenticity new, technical evidence.

How does it work?

A blockchain certificate records a work and its journey in such a way that the record is hard to alter after the fact, so its path can be traced. AI, by contrast, compares a work with an artist's known output and looks at how far it matches their style and brushwork. Both tend to complement assessment by a specialist rather than replace it entirely.

Why does it matter to a collector?

Well-documented authenticity and a demonstrable origin make a work more trustworthy and more readily tradeable. Technology can speed up and clarify this verification, which in a market that long relied mainly on papers and names is no small thing. Anyone whose work is cleanly documented sells with an easier mind.

What should you watch out for?

The pitfall is filling the database with genuinely authentic works. Technology only confirms what a person puts into it. Neither a certificate nor an AI verdict is therefore a cure-all, and it is worth asking what data they rest on. A new tool is an aid, not a magic guarantee.

— Anna Pulkertová, founder of Art Part Club