The Challenges and Implications of AI‑Generated Deepfakes as Forged Evidence in Criminal Trials

Introduction                  The pace of advancement in artificial intelligence (AI) and particularly generative adversarial networks ( GANs), has created disruptive technologies that compromise decades of understood evidentiary challenges in criminal law. Among the most alarming are deepfakes—AI-manipulated audio and video data that creates the illusion that someone said or did something, or, in some cases, creates an entirely fictitious scene. What once was a fun novelty to do on TikTok has turned into something much more insidious, a threat to the fundamental aspect of the criminal justice system: evidence. As online accessibility to such programs increases, it becomes ever more probable that false evidence will be presented in a criminal courtroom—intentionally or not.   Traditionally, a court can adjust to various new evidentiary challenges. Whether it's the challenge of a photo being manipulated in the first half of the twe...