Artificial intelligence can help investigators sort large volumes of digital material, enhance images, compare faces, identify patterns, and generate analytical leads. The same technology can also create convincing synthetic images, audio, and video. In a Florida criminal case, neither an AI output nor a claim that something is a “deepfake” resolves whether the evidence is authentic or admissible.
AI output is not automatically proof
An AI-generated report may reflect choices about data, software settings, confidence thresholds, and human review. Errors can result from incomplete data, poor-quality recordings, incorrect assumptions, or limitations in a model. A useful investigative lead is not necessarily admissible trial evidence, and the State still bears its burden of proving the charged offense beyond a reasonable doubt.
Defense review may focus on what the system did, what information it received, whether the method can be tested, who interpreted the result, and whether the underlying material is available. When expert testimony is offered, Florida’s evidence rules may require the court to evaluate the expert’s qualifications and the reliability and application of the methodology.
Deepfakes and authentication
Deepfakes are synthetic or altered media produced with machine-learning tools. They can imitate a person’s face or voice or modify an existing recording. But digital media should not be labeled authentic or fake based on appearance alone.
Florida Statutes section 90.901 requires authentication or identification as a condition of admissibility. Depending on the evidence, authentication may involve witness testimony, account records, metadata, original files, device data, chain-of-custody evidence, or expert analysis. The particular foundation depends on what the evidence is and what the proponent claims it shows.
Questions for digital evidence
- Source: Where did the file come from, and who had access to it?
- Original data: Is the native file available, or only a compressed copy or screenshot?
- Metadata: Do creation, modification, location, or device records support the claimed timeline?
- Integrity: Was a forensic image made, and can hash values or other records help show whether the data changed?
- Chain of custody: How was the evidence collected, stored, transferred, and analyzed?
- Methodology: If software generated a conclusion, is the method reliable and was it applied appropriately?
- Context: Has material been cropped, edited, enhanced, or separated from the surrounding conversation?
Search and constitutional issues
Digital evidence may come from a phone, computer, cloud account, camera system, social platform, or third-party service. The legality and scope of the search can depend on the warrant, consent, the location of the data, and the method used to obtain it. In Riley v. California, the U.S. Supreme Court generally required a warrant before police search digital information on a cell phone seized during an arrest, subject to recognized exceptions.
A defense lawyer may examine whether a warrant was supported by probable cause, whether it described the data to be searched with sufficient particularity, and whether investigators exceeded its scope. Separate evidence rules may govern relevance, hearsay, unfair prejudice, expert testimony, and the use of summaries or enhanced media.
A careful, evidence-specific review
AI tools and deepfake technology are developing quickly, but existing principles still matter: identify the source, preserve the original material, test the method, disclose limitations, and provide an adequate evidentiary foundation. The analysis should be tied to the actual file and procedure rather than assumptions about what AI can or cannot do.
If artificial intelligence, facial comparison, synthetic media, or other digital evidence is involved in a Florida criminal investigation, Roy J. Kahn can review the collection, authentication, and proposed use of that evidence. No lawyer can guarantee a result, and every matter depends on its facts and applicable law.
This article provides general information and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
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