The Age of Synthetic Realities: Challenges and Opportunities
João Phillipe Cardenuto Jing Yang Rafael Padilha Renjie Wan Daniel Moreira Haoliang Li Shiqi Wang Fernanda Andaló Sébastien Marcel Anderson Rocha
Synthetic realities are digital creations or augmentations that are
contextually generated through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods,
leveraging extensive amounts of data to construct new narratives or realities,
regardless of the intent to deceive. In this paper, we delve into the concept
of synthetic realities and their implications for Digital Forensics and society
at large within the rapidly advancing field of AI. We highlight the crucial
need for the development of forensic techniques capable of identifying harmful
synthetic creations and distinguishing them from reality. This is especially
important in scenarios involving the creation and dissemination of fake news,
disinformation, and misinformation. Our focus extends to various forms of
media, such as images, videos, audio, and text, as we examine how synthetic
realities are crafted and explore approaches to detecting these malicious
creations. Additionally, we shed light on the key research challenges that lie
ahead in this area. This study is of paramount importance due to the rapid
progress of AI generative techniques and their impact on the fundamental
principles of Forensic Science.