International researchers, policymakers, and standardization experts gather to address the urgent challenge of building trustworthy digital content pipelines as generative AI reshapes the foundations of multimedia.

On July 8, 2026, the city of Leiria becomes a focal point for one of the most pressing conversations in digital media: how should international standards evolve to keep pace with artificial intelligence? The JPEG Workshop on Media Representation Standards in the Age of AI, co-organized by the Portuguese Chapter of the IEEE Signal Processing Society (IEEE SPS), brings together a distinguished cast of researchers, industry figures, and policymakers to tackle the intertwined challenges of performance, authenticity, and trust.

Artificial intelligence is no longer a future prospect for multimedia systems — it is the present reality. Learning-based codecs, generative models, and machine-oriented visual representations are already rewriting the rules of image compression and transmission. Yet the same technologies that unlock extraordinary capabilities also introduce new risks: synthetic imagery that is indistinguishable from authentic content, provenance chains that are easily broken, and interoperability gaps that impede wide deployment.

“International standards play a fundamental role in ensuring that emerging technologies remain interoperable, reliable, and widely deployable.” — Workshop concept statement

The afternoon opens with an examination of cutting-edge AI-powered coding standards. João Ascenso of Instituto Superior Técnico (Universidade de Lisboa) and Instituto de Telecomunicações will present an overview of two landmark JPEG initiatives: JPEG AI, the committee’s foray into neural image compression, and JPEG Pleno, which extends representation to light fields and point clouds.

Ivan Bajić from Simon Fraser University will address one of the most transformative shifts in the field — coding for machines. As an increasing share of visual data is consumed not by human eyes but by downstream AI systems, the case for radically different encoding strategies becomes compelling. Efficient visual representations tailored to inference pipelines, rather than perceptual fidelity, demand entirely new rate-distortion frameworks.

If Session 1 focuses on the technical frontier, Session 2 addresses what may be the most societally consequential challenge: how do we know whether a piece of digital media is authentic? Frederik Temmermans of Vrije Universiteit Brussel will introduce JPEG Trust, the committee’s framework for embedding provenance and integrity metadata into image files — a direct response to the proliferation of AI-generated imagery.

Mário Campolargo of Universidade de Aveiro will broaden the lens with a talk titled Trust in the Age of Synthetic Reality, exploring the philosophical and practical dimensions of a world in which visual truth is no longer self-evident. Carlos Pires, representing the European Commission, will address the regulatory context, including how frameworks such as the EU AI Act interact with technical standards bodies.

The workshop closes with a moderated round table, Trustworthy Content in the Age of AI: Opportunities, Risks, and Responsibilities, chaired by Fernando Pereira (IST-UL / Instituto de Telecomunicações). The panel brings together Touradj Ebrahimi (EPFL), Mário Campolargo, and Nuno Guimarães (ISCTE) to debate where the balance of responsibility lies — among technologists, content creators, platforms, and regulators — and what role standards bodies can realistically play in safeguarding the information ecosystem.

The JPEG Committee has long served as the principal international venue for image and video compression standards — its original format, released in 1992, remains among the most-used file types on the internet. In recent years the committee has expanded its scope considerably, launching working groups on neural network-based compression, holographic media, and now authenticity infrastructure. The Leiria workshop is part of a broader consultation process that feeds into ongoing standardization cycles.

The event is co-organized within the framework of the IEEE SPS Member-Driven Initiative Program, with support from the Polytechnic University of Leiria, Instituto de Telecomunicações, IEEE Portugal Section, and Câmara Municipal de Leiria. Attendance is free but registration is required for both the workshop and the networking dinner.

Researchers and practitioners interested in contributing to JPEG standardization activities can find participation guidelines at jpeg.org in the Participate section.