In the era of AI, what’s real & what’s not in the courtroom? Ian Gascoigne examines the growing issue of faked evidence
- Faked evidence isn’t new. This article looks at cases going back 25 years that have involved alleged forged evidence.
- With the advent of AI, however, litigators need to know how to spot and treat evidence that may not be what it first appears.
The concept of the fake is prevalent. Telephone calls or texts from callers pretending to be other people, fake images online, and even ‘fake news’ for those who do not like facts with which they are presented—all are threats for us to look out for.
It is unsurprising that there is an increasing worry in the sphere of civil disputes about documents and sound/video recordings that appear to be authentic but are not. This is an old problem, which, undoubtedly, has been given an attractive new coat by generative AI.
Such tools make it easier to fake evidence. Two questions to consider are:
- How to spot the fake?
- What a court can do, both punitively
