Companies Can Use AI Tools to Detect Fakes and Have Them Removed

AI technology often requires training on billions of copyrighted and trademarked works to function optimally, so AI operators scrape the internet to copy those works without authorization from the IP owners. Once an AI tool is properly trained, a user can prompt it to generate, nearly instantaneously, many variations on the inputted works—and any one of them might infringe copyright, trademark or other intellectual proprietary rights.

In a recent story in The Hollywood Reporter, Laurie Brookins wrote that counterfeiters target luxury items such as handbags, fragrances, and shoes, and the economic impact of their production of infringing versions could reach $1.79 trillion by 2030. Several companies using their own proprietary AI technology, including Alt Vault, Authentix, and Entrupy, have emerged to help thwart counterfeiters by reliably authenticating luxury goods. Their services benefit lawful participants in the fashion chain of distribution, from manufacturers and retailers to consumers and resellers, by helping buyers of luxury items feel more confident that they are purchasing authentic products.

Alt Vault is a web-based program designed for industry professionals as well as consumers. The latter can use it to verify the authenticity of their purchases, and resellers can use it, along with an authentication report it generates, to upload the reports and have them accompany images of products the reseller is offering on its website. Counterfeits are both common and disruptive. A consumer may unwittingly purchase a fake product even if the purchase is innocently made from a trusted source. In many of those cases, the consumer would presumably have recourse by receiving an exchange or refund; but a fraudulent product purchased from an unknown or unknowingly unreliable reseller may not have such a favorable resolution for the consumer. Alt Vault’s AI technology helps stabilize the secondary market by bringing needed assurances to both resellers and consumers of the authenticity of second-hand or remaindered goods.

Authentix works with luxury brand owners and retailers by deploying algorithms to search the web to spot listings of fake products. The estimates are that it can scan literally millions of websites and over 500,000 products monthly for the roughly 300 brands it protects. It claims that it is 90% successful at accurately detecting fakes and having them removed.

Entrupy’s authentication systems rely on several methods. One involves authenticating a purportedly authentic luxury shoe by using photographs taken of a known genuine example from multiple angles and using AI to identify the shoe’s distinguishing features, such as the leather quality, fabric texture, or stitching pattern. If Entrupy’s system is unable to confirm the shoe’s authenticity, it labels the product as “unidentified.” That does not necessarily mean Entrupy deems the item a fake; it does mean, however, that any seller or purchaser of the item probably should proceed with extreme caution.

Another of Entrupy’s methods entails taking images of authentic goods and their fake counterparts and then training AI technology to recognize the differences. The results are uploaded to the cloud, where algorithms confirm the item’s authenticity. Entrupy buttresses its AI results with human authenticators to increase reliability. Entrupy’s representatives say that in the rare instances where its system yields a false-positive for one of its customers, an incorrect finding that an item is authentic, it will buy the item from the customer, thereby making the customer whole and removing the counterfeit product from the marketplace. The company says its technology has become the standard for authentication in the industry, relied on by brands, resellers, social media platforms, pawn shops, and even governments.

AI is a tool with unlimited potential. Like most tools, users can employ it to help or hurt. Luxury brand owners may be mistrustful of the technology because of its ability to generate multiple infringing copies of protected works. Still, they would be doing themselves a disservice not to realize that AI also can help identify the legitimacy of their products downstream and avoid potentially significant lost revenue.