Remember when a grainy cell-phone clip was enough to settle an argument? “See, it’s on video!” used to be the mic drop of evidence. Not anymore. With AI models like Google’s Veo 3 creating videos that 90% of viewers already mistake for reality, the old “pics or it didn’t happen” mantra is on life support.

If we can’t trust our eyes, how do brands, creators, and audiences keep their footing in a world where visuals lie as smoothly as they dazzle?

Deepfakes have evolved beyond faces

Early deepfakes were like bad Photoshop on fast-forward – mostly face swaps that were unsettling but rarely convincing. The new generation? They’ve graduated. Today’s AI can spin entire scenes from nothing, complete with dialogue, background details, and even ambient noise. Veo 3’s output looks less like a filter and more like a full-blown alternate reality.

And here’s the kicker: the fakes don’t even have to be flawless to cause damage. The infamous slowed-down Nancy Pelosi video wasn’t high-tech wizardry – it was a glorified playback trick. Yet it still managed to warp public perception and spark political outrage. The moral? Even a “shallowfake” can make deep waves.

The trust crisis in visual media

The fallout stretches far beyond politics.

• Platforms are overwhelmed. A CBS investigation revealed Meta hosting hundreds of ads for “nudify” apps – AI tools turning real people’s photos into explicit deepfakes . If Meta can’t keep the barn doors shut, smaller platforms don’t stand much chance either.
  
  
• Audiences are divided. A YouTube experiment called Can We Teach Our Moms to Spot Fake AI Videos? showed just how easily people raised on video-as-proof can be duped. For younger digital natives, skepticism is second nature. For older generations, skepticism can feel like cynicism.
  
  
• Creators are worried. With YouTube already bracing for an incoming flood of convincing AI content, creators face a future where their hard-earned originality risks drowning in a sea of algorithmic replicas.
  
  

The common thread? Trust – the one currency every brand, creator, and platform depends on – is wobbling.

The counter-movement: detect, verify, protect

Thankfully, the cavalry is arriving, albeit fashionably late.

• Smarter detection. Researchers at UC Riverside and Google have developed UNITE, an AI system that spots deepfakes by analyzing motion and backgrounds instead of just faces. Think of it as a digital Sherlock Holmes, scanning for inconsistencies invisible to the casual viewer.
  
  
• Stronger laws. Governments are stepping in too. In August, New South Wales moved to criminalize the creation and distribution of sexually explicit deepfakes, with penalties of up to three years in jail. It’s a sign that lawmakers are catching up – or at least trying to sprint after the tech.
  
  
• Industry standards. Groups like the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) are building authenticity infrastructure into the fabric of media itself. Watermarks, provenance metadata, tamper-proof archives – not glamorous, but essential if we want to keep a reliable record of human-made content.
  
  

Why authenticity is the new currency

Here’s the paradox: the more convincing AI fakes become, the more valuable authenticity becomes. For businesses, that means rethinking how visual content is created, verified, and shared. For audiences, it means swapping blind trust for healthy skepticism – and learning new literacy skills that go well beyond spotting typos in a tweet.

The good news? Deepfakes don’t have to end visual trust. They might just force us to rebuild it on sturdier foundations – foundations that could ultimately make visual storytelling stronger, not weaker.

The future of storytelling demands trust

We’re at an inflection point. Deepfake tools will keep getting better. Detection and verification tools will keep racing to catch up. The question is whether creators, platforms, and audiences will treat authenticity not as a nice-to-have but as a survival strategy.

If your work depends on visual media, this isn’t just a tech trend. It’s the next big plot twist in how stories get told, remembered, and believed. And like any good story, how it ends is up to us.

Want to go deeper? 

To hear industry experts discuss how to embrace AI responsibly, protect authenticity, and unlock new creative possibilities, watch the webinar How AI is Shaping Storytelling and Visual Media.