Counterfeiting is a huge industry, a problem costing an estimated $1.2 trillion a year globally.
Now, IBM has revealed a new piece of technology that’s supposedly able to detect counterfeit products, in goods frequently forged like high-priced wine, diamonds, and medicines.
The IBM Crypto Anchor Verifier, as its called, is actually a combination of two technologies; artificial intelligence and optical imaging. It works on a relatively basic “match system”. According to IBM, every object or substance has a specific optical signature. Their AI model has been trained to recognize these signatures, once their optical imaging system has pinpointed it.
This method is can differentiate a real diamond from a fake one, and can analyze the quality of water and detect bacteria like E.coli in it. In fact, it’s so accurate it can even distinguish a naturally-produced ear of corn from one that’s been genetically modified. Best of all, that entire system can be scaled down to use in even a smartphone with a camera.
And you might think this would naturally be inhibited by what siganitures the program has learned. However, it never stops learning. The Crypto Anchor Verifier in fact taps into the blockchain to keep getting smarter. When it comes across an original item that’s not been tampered with, it records its signature and uploads it to the blockchain. That way, the knowledge is accessible to every single one of these units to confirm against in future.
That means, in future these devices could form a global network, learning from each other and keeping track of counterfeit items through the blockchain, regardless of national, organisational, and geographical differences. Think about it, you’ll never have to fear the “Made in China” tag ever again.