Artificial intelligence shifts digital trust as deepfakes rise

Artificial intelligence is fundamentally altering the logic of digital trust, making visual and auditory evidence increasingly unreliable. As AI tools become more accessible and affordable, the ability to create convincing deepfakes of voices, faces, and videos has grown, allowing bad actors to exploit emotional pressure and urgency through synthetic reality.

According to the Stanford University ‘AI Index 2026’ report, the number of documented AI-related incidents per year has risen from 233 to 362. While not all incidents involve voice cloning or video manipulation, the data indicates a trend of increasing and more complex risks. Additionally, the report notes a decline in the transparency of major AI model developers, as measured by the Foundation Model Transparency Index.