Book Review: Craig Ball, “Forensic Tells: The Litigator’s Guide to Detecting Deepfakes and Authenticating Digital Evidence”

Craig Ball’s “Forensic Tells: The Litigator’s Guide to Detecting Deepfakes and Authenticating Digital Evidence” (2026) is fantastic.  Deep_Fake_Evidence_2026.pdf

He posits a “fundamental principle”—“ask for the original,” writing that doing so is the “single most important discovery strategy for authenticating digital evidence….”  He then suggests asking for both application and file system metadata and provides sample discovery requests.  To give only one of many examples, he suggests a request for admission that the proponent: “Admit that the photograph marked as Exhibit A was created by a digital camera or smartphone, not by artificial intelligence software.”

Craig discusses how metadata “has become the last line of defense against manufactured reality.”  He wrote that “critically, when digital evidence is fabricated, this metadata is almost always absent, incomplete, or inconsistent.”  He added:

Here’s the critical insight: AI systems that generate synthetic images don’t create authentic metadata. They aren’t cameras. They’re software programs running on computers…..

Like all of his publications, Craig’s work provides practical tips.  He discusses, for example, “several telltale metadata anomalies….”  One suggestion is a “contradiction search”:

What evidence might contradict the offered evidence?  If it purportedly shows the plaintiff at a particular location, do cell phone records, credit card receipts, or testimony place them elsewhere?

Craig’s thesis is that “[m]etadata can’t be authentically fabricated because authentic metadata requires an authentic source.”  Thus, he suggests: “Ask the foundational questions: Where did this come from?  What device created it?  What does the metadata show? What should be here that isn’t?”  While Craig states that metadata is not foolproof—“sophisticated fabricators may attempt to spoof provenance, and legitimate evidence may lose its metadata through innocent handling”—he concludes that “metadata and forensic rigor are out anchors to truth.”

Doug Austin’s review is posted at A Practitioner’s Guide to Detecting Deep Fakes and Authenticating Digital Evidence (2026).

See also Book Review: Craig Ball, “The Leery Lawyer’s guide to AI and LLMs in Trial Practice” – E-Discovery LLC (Jan. 16, 2026); Book Review: Tom O’Connor, “Artificial Intelligence for the Rest of Us” – E-Discovery LLC (Jan. 12, 2026).

For additional reviews of recent Artificial Intelligence books, please click on the “Book Reviews” “Category” above.

For additional posts on A.I., please click on the “artificial intelligence” “Tag” above.

For another discussion of approaches to deepfakes, see Deepfakes – National Center for State Courts  (Mar. 6, 2026).