FABRICATED REALITY: DEEPFAKES AND CRISES OF DIGITAL EVIDENCE

In this era, technology is taking reins in every domain. It is the driving force of development that is influencing the society in more ways than one. As we all are well aware every aspect in life has both advantages and disadvantages. We weigh these pros and cons to determine if it's worth pursuing and then we try to brainstorm for ideas and formulate plans and safeguards that will attenuate the negative impacts. In this context, even technology has drawbacks along with advantages. Though technology has a stronghold on all domains, in this paper, we will focus on the impact on law specifically focusing on the topic deepfakes and its effect on the credibility of digital evidence. Here digital evidence is the upside of technology i.e. it presents more credible and solid evidence to the courts, aiding them in accurately determining whether to give a verdict of guilty or not guilty. Digital evidence refers to any probative information or data that is stored, transmitted, or collected in an electronic format which can be used or presented in a court of law as proof. It includes text messages, emails, GPS logs, browser history, etc. They are commonly extracted from sources like Computers, laptops, tablets, etc. The existence of DEEPFAKES spirals all the advantages of law integrating technology into the process of giving justice. This concept shattered the assumption of "seeing is believing" that has been persisting in the courtrooms for generations. Deepfake refers to any form of digital media such as videos, images, or voice audio clips which have been altered realistically or have been generated entirely using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) to make someone appear as if they said something or done something that they never actually did. Deepfakes pose a profound and a structural challenge to the acceptance of digital evidence and the conviction of criminals based on such evidence. This concept fundamentally shifted how judges evaluate admissibility and how juries perceive reasonable doubt. In this article we are going to explore all the problems, advantages, disadvantages and the solutions in relation to the topic deepfakes and its effect on the digital evidence acceptability and credibility.