XENLOOK C2PAPrüfen
Course contents
Chapter 1 of 10

Chapter 1What is C2PA, and why do we need it?

AI can now make realistic photos and voices with ease. In this chapter you learn what C2PA is and why it is needed, and you take a first look around the site you will practice on.

  • Official session name · Kickoff and analysis of the hard technical requirements
  • 5 practice steps
  • You can follow along without signing in
What you will learn in this chapter
  • You can say in one sentence what C2PA records.
  • You know why C2PA is not a “real or fake” detector.
  • You know this site's menus and its practice rules.

The idea in plain words

It works like a shipping label
A parcel's shipping label lists the sender, the date sent and what is inside. C2PA is a label like that for a digital file. The label tells you where the file came from. It does not promise that what is inside the box is any good.

C2PA is an international standard made by the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity. It sets out how to record who made a file, when, and with which tool.

That record is called a manifest. It travels inside the file, like the ingredients list on food packaging. If someone edits the photo, the record can also add what was changed.

A digital signature is attached to the manifest. Think of it as a tamper seal. You can tell who put it on. If the file changes after signing, the broken seal shows.

Why is this needed now? With generative AI, fake faces, fake voices and fake documents are hard to tell apart by eye. So it matters to show, with technology, who made something.

Rules are arriving too. Korea's AI Basic Act (in force since January 2026) and the EU AI Act ask for AI-made output to be labeled. The trend is to require more than a label: technical means to trace and check the output later.

This site (c2pa.xenlook.com) runs a pilot of C2PA provenance. You practice on screens that really work, but the site is not yet on the international official trust list. You learn more about that difference in chapters 7 and 9.

See the picture

  1. Makephoto, video, music, document
  2. Recordwho, when, with which tool
  3. Signput on the tamper seal
  4. Checkanyone can open it
This is the basic C2PA flow. The maker records and signs. The person who receives the file checks.

Try it yourself

Work from the top, one step at a time. After each step, check that your screen matches “What you should see.”
  1. Open the site's home page and look over the menu at the top. The menu has six groups: Verify, Learn, Technology, Site security, Trust & compliance and Certificate customers. On a phone, tap the ☰ (menu) button.
    What you should see You see the menu groups, and selecting one opens the list of pages inside it. The full menu has all six groups.
  2. In the Learn group, open the Basics page and read it. Be sure to read the part called “Manifest = ingredients label.”
    What you should see An explanation that starts with “What is C2PA, simply?” appears.
  3. Open the practice page you will use in the next chapter. This time, just look at the screen. Do not upload a file.
    What you should see You see two buttons: “파일 선택” (choose file) and “세리아 샘플로 시연” (demo with the Seria sample).
    Open the practice pageNo sign-inPartly in Korean
  4. On the “When it doesn't work” page, read what this site cannot do.
    What you should see Seven limits appear, with numbers, under the heading “Where this system does not work.”
  5. Read the six practice rules for this course. When you have read them all, write “Rules checked” in your practice log.
    What you should see You can say each rule out loud, once.
The part you do with your mentor · Your mentor walks through the menu layout and the practice rules with you. If a menu item makes you curious, ask now.

Check your work

If you can answer “yes” to everything below, you have finished this chapter.
  • Can you explain C2PA as “a shipping label attached to a file”?
  • Do you know that a signature is not a guarantee that the content is true?
  • Have you written “checked” next to all six practice rules in your practice log?

Easy to mix up

  • Common misunderstandingIf a file has a C2PA record, its content is true.
    What is actually trueC2PA tells you who made it, when, and with which tool. Whether the scene in a photo really happened is a separate thing to check.
  • Common misunderstandingC2PA is a detector that finds AI-made photos.
    What is actually trueIt is not a detector. It is a tool that reads the record a maker left behind. It cannot tell you anything about a file that has no record.
  • Common misunderstandingIf there is no C2PA record, the file is fake.
    What is actually trueNo record means “we don't know.” Posting a file on social media or re-saving it often wipes the record.

Review questions

  1. Question 1What is mainly written in a C2PA manifest?Show answerHide answer
    Who made the file, when, and with which tool, plus how it was edited. A signature is attached to it.
  2. Question 2You get a photo with no C2PA record. Can you call it fake?Show answerHide answer
    No. No record means you do not know where it came from. The record may have been wiped on its way to you.
  3. Question 3What stage is this site at now?Show answerHide answer
    It is at the pilot stage. It is not yet on the international official trust list (the C2PA Trust List).

Key terms

C2PACoalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity
An international standard for recording and checking where content came from.
Manifest
The provenance record that goes inside a file. Think of it as an ingredients list.
Provenance
Where a file came from and how it has changed along the way.
Generative AI
Artificial intelligence that makes new text, pictures, sound or video.

Practice log

Print it and write by hand, or copy the same items into a document. Once your mentor has checked it, you are done.
Chapter 1 practice logWhat is C2PA, and why do we need it?
Practice date
Written by
Mentor check
  1. C2PA in one sentence, in your own words
  2. The names of the six menu groups, and the one page you are most curious about
  3. The limit you think matters most on the limits page, and why
  4. The six practice rules (checked / have a question)
  5. What to ask your mentor