Blitz: "Deepfakes and Evidence Law"

Summary

This legal paper by Marc Blitz examines how deepfake technology challenges existing evidence law frameworks, particularly rules around authentication and admissibility of digital media. It analyzes how courts may need to adapt evidentiary standards to address the growing difficulty of distinguishing genuine from synthetically manipulated audio-visual content. The paper proposes legal and procedural reforms to maintain evidentiary integrity in an era of convincing synthetic media.

Key Points

• •Deepfakes undermine traditional authentication methods for digital evidence, requiring courts to rethink how video and audio evidence is verified.
• •Existing evidence law rules (e.g., Federal Rules of Evidence) were not designed with AI-generated synthetic media in mind.
• •The paper explores the evidentiary burden of proof when a party claims presented media has been manipulated using deepfake technology.
• •Proposes that courts may need to rely more heavily on expert forensic testimony and technical detection tools to assess media authenticity.
• •Raises broader concerns about erosion of trust in digital evidence and potential for bad actors to exploit 'liar's dividend' — dismissing genuine evidence as fake.