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In the recent past, I would expect a video to be admitted as part of evidence to prove a crime.

However, recently especially with AI, video fabrication and video editing have become so capable to the point that its hard to determine the truthfulness of a video even with computer forensics.

How does law in various jurisdictions deal with that?

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  • I'm reading your question as "If fake evidence can be constructed in ways that the law can't determine the veracity of it, what can the law do?". But how can the law do something about something it doesn't/can't know about?
    – Peter M
    Commented Sep 29 at 16:54
  • Deep fakes are still a very recent technology, there hasn't been much time to develop legal policies regarding it.
    – Barmar
    Commented Sep 29 at 21:45
  • @Barmar nah, there is very old legal policy for them: they are forgeries. nothing else.
    – Trish
    Commented Sep 30 at 19:34

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The party seeking to make use of a photograph or video bears the burden of "authentication." This means they must establish that the photo or video depicts the relevant event and has not been materially altered. Even if there are changes or alterations, if the image or video is substantially accurate, and is a fair representation of what it purports to show, the evidence may be admitted.

Video or image evidence can be "authenticated" on the basis of direct or circumstantial evidence. It is usually sufficient for the person introducing the evidence to call a witness who can say they took the photo or video and that they did not alter it.

When deciding on admissibility this threshold of "authentication" is a modest one: the party seeking to admit the evidence need only provide some evidence capable of supporting a finding that document is what it purports to be.

For a summary of these principles, see R. v. Chaudhry, 2021 ONSC 6589, paragraphs 13-18.

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