A few years ago, forging a video or audio recording convincingly enough to fool a court was practically impossible. Today, artificial intelligence has changed that entirely. AI can both assist in criminal investigations and pose serious threats to the reliability of evidence.

How AI Appears in Criminal Cases

Artificial intelligence plays two opposing roles:

• Investigative tool. Law enforcement agencies use AI for facial recognition in video footage, analysis of large volumes of digital data, and detecting hidden connections between parties.
• Threat to reliability. The same technologies can be used to create deepfake videos, synthetic voice recordings, and fabricated correspondence that is difficult to distinguish from genuine material.

The Authenticity Problem: Why It Matters

Authenticity means confirming that evidence is exactly what it purports to be: unaltered, not forged, obtained from a specific person or device at a specific time. Traditional documents are authenticated by signature or seal. With digital data, the challenge is far greater.

When AI can generate a realistic video or audio of any person saying anything, courts face a serious question: how do you tell the real from the fabricated?

Methods for Verifying Authenticity

Leading legal systems use several approaches:

• Digital signatures and hashing. A file receives a unique digital fingerprint (hash). Any change — even a single altered pixel — modifies that fingerprint.
• File metadata. Creation date and time, device used, GPS coordinates, and the application that opened the file all leave traces that are difficult to falsify comprehensively.
• Forensic computer examination. An expert can detect signs of editing and inconsistencies between a file’s content and its technical characteristics.
• AI-based deepfake detectors. Ironically, AI algorithms are now among the most effective tools for identifying deepfake content.

The Situation in Ukraine

Ukrainian legislation currently has no specific provisions addressing AI-generated evidence. Courts evaluate such material under general rules of reliability and admissibility. However, case law is gradually developing, and lawyers are already successfully challenging evidence by raising doubts about its authenticity.

If your case involves video recordings, audio, or correspondence, always raise the question of verification. This is a legitimate right of every party to proceedings.

This article is based on: Petryk V.V., Khakhanovskyi V.G. “Artificial Intelligence and Electronic Evidence: Problems of Authenticity” // Legal Journal, 2025. Read the original article.

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