IT之家 news, October 28: According to a report by CCTV News today, a netizen discovered that a screenshot of a redemption voucher with the QR code covered by a mosaic,after being repaired by an AI image tool, could actually be scanned to read its information. This discovery has raised concerns among many netizens about AI's ability to restore QR codes.
In response, CCTV's real-world test found:
when the graffiti only covers the outer area of the QR code, or when the graffiti is not thick enough and does not fully cover the background color, the AI can successfully restore it;
when the graffiti area is enlarged to fully cover the QR code and applied thickly enough that the original QR code details are hard to make out, the AI cannot restore usable QR code information.
Experts said that the AI's so-called "restoration"works only on the premise that the graffiti-covered area does not cover the core data area. Once the core data area is completely covered, the AI cannot repair it. Reminder: when handling QR codes, try to apply a mosaic over 90% of the QR code's area.
IT之家 note: A QR code is a code that extends one-dimensional barcodes by adding another readable dimension, using black-and-white rectangular patterns to represent binary data; when scanned by a device, the information contained in it can be obtained. In a one-dimensional barcode, the width records data, while the length does not record data. In a QR code, both the length and the width record data.QR codes have "positioning points" and an "error correction mechanism" that one-dimensional barcodes lack. The error correction mechanism allows the information on the code to be correctly restored even when not all of the code is recognized, or when the code is smudged or damaged.