Innovative Melbourne company Ion Video has developed technology that disrupts current wisdom and prevents the uploading of unsafe AI-generated video content.
By attaching safety rules to individual videos and checking those rules during video assembly, Ion’s technology prevents harmful content from being displayed, rather than being removed later.
Ion’s approach challenges the current process of using platforms that typically check videos after they’ve been uploaded. If we find something illegal or harmful, we may remove it later. This often takes time, so the problematic video may continue to be watched.
Ion will never build a video if a dangerous part is detected.
Ion (ASX code IOV) has filed a patent with IP Australia for a technology called System and Method for Enhancing Content Safety During Virtual Video Assembly.
Finbarr O’Hanlon, Aeon’s chief innovation officer and the technology’s inventor, said the application expands the company’s intellectual property rights position from video structure, governance, resolution and authentication to safety and classification.
“Our previous patent provided a way to prove that a video is real. This new patent is less about whether the content is real and more about whether the content should be assembled and displayed in the first place.”
“Because we classify safety at the level of the individual sample and enforce it at the moment of assembly, if a sample violates an active policy, video simply cannot resolve it.
“Insecure content is never distributed, rather than flagged after the viewer has already seen it. And rules can be set by rights holders, platforms, and jurisdictions all at once, and the strictest combination always wins, allowing you to safely assemble the same source content under completely different laws without duplicating a single file.”
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“In a world where AI agents assemble videos on the fly, safety can no longer be a check on the finished file. Safety must exist at the moment of assembly, and that’s what this patent protects.”
O’Hanlon said he believes enforcing content safety at the binary sample level at the point of assembly, where generative AI is used to create videos and autonomous agents are used to assemble them, represents a distinct and protectable technology category that is becoming increasingly relevant as governments seek to legislate online safety and video provenance.
“Aeon intends to position itself as directly relevant to platforms, broadcasters, studios and regulators facing the challenges of deepfakes, child safety and disinformation in the next decade.”
O’Hanlon said the inspiration for the invention came as deepfakes, child safety and AI-generated disinformation have become defining risks in the digital age, with governments around the world moving to legislate around online safety and video origins.
“But the systems built to keep videos safe are designed for a vanishing world where all videos are finished files that can be checked before they are shown.
“As AI agents increasingly assemble videos from fragments with video on demand, there is often no complete file to check at the time you view it.
“Ion’s patent reimagines content safety for that world. By binding a safety classification to every binary sample and enforcing it at the very moment the video is assembled, unsafe content is structurally prevented from resolving rather than being detected after the damage has occurred. In short, this is prevention, not detection.”
He said that as new hazards, classifiers, and regulatory standards emerge, they can be added as new adapters without changing the core media pipeline.
Earlier this month, Aeon applied to IP Australia for a patent to determine whether a video is real or AI-generated to solve another big video problem.
