# The Age of Synthetic Realities: Challenges and Opportunities

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.11503 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.11503/

## Key facts

- Cited by 15 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 188 of its 301 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 9 Jun 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 188)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.00020/) (2021)
- [Language Models are Few-Shot Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.14165/) (2020)
- [Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.11239/) (2020)
- [High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.10752/) (2021)
- [LLaMA: Open and Efficient Foundation Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.13971/) (2023)
- [Score-Based Generative Modeling through Stochastic Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.13456/) (2020)
- [Deep Unsupervised Learning using Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1503.03585/) (2015)
- [Hierarchical Text-Conditional Image Generation with CLIP Latents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.06125/) (2022)
- [A Unified Approach to Interpreting Model Predictions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1705.07874/) (2017)
- [EfficientNet: Rethinking Model Scaling for Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.11946/) (2019)
- [Photorealistic Text-to-Image Diffusion Models with Deep Language Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.11487/) (2022)
- [A Style-Based Generator Architecture for Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.04948/) (2018)
- [PaLM: Scaling Language Modeling with Pathways](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.02311/) (2022)
- [Neural Discrete Representation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.00937/) (2017)
- [Zero-Shot Text-to-Image Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.12092/) (2021)
- [Auto-Encoding Variational Bayes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1312.6114/) (2013)
- [Instant Neural Graphics Primitives with a Multiresolution Hash Encoding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.05989/) (2022)
- [Analyzing and Improving the Image Quality of StyleGAN](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.04958/) (2019)
- [OPT: Open Pre-trained Transformer Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.01068/) (2022)
- [Training Compute-Optimal Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.15556/) (2022)
- [Progressive Growing of GANs for Improved Quality, Stability, and Variation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.10196/) (2017)
- [Xception: Deep Learning with Depthwise Separable Convolutions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1610.02357/) (2016)
- [Video Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.03458/) (2022)
- [Unsupervised Representation Learning with Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1511.06434/) (2015)
- [Mip-NeRF 360: Unbounded Anti-Aliased Neural Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.12077/) (2021)
- [BLOOM: A 176B-Parameter Open-Access Multilingual Language Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.05100/) (2022)
- [Imagen Video: High Definition Video Generation with Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.02303/) (2022)
- [Make-A-Video: Text-to-Video Generation without Text-Video Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.14792/) (2022)
- [WaveNet: A Generative Model for Raw Audio](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.03499/) (2016)

## Built on by (most cited first, 15 of 15)

- [Raising the Bar of AI-generated Image Detection with CLIP](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.00195/) (2023)
- [A Survey on LLM-Generated Text Detection: Necessity, Methods, and Future Directions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.14724/) (2023)
- [Three Bricks to Consolidate Watermarks for Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.00113/) (2023)
- [Detecting Multimedia Generated by Large AI Models: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.00045/) (2024)
- [DetectRL: Benchmarking LLM-Generated Text Detection in Real-World Scenarios](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.23746/) (2024)
- [Exploring Self-Supervised Vision Transformers for Deepfake Detection: A Comparative Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.00355/) (2024)
- [Synthetic Image Verification in the Era of Generative AI: What Works and What Isn't There Yet](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.00196/) (2024)
- [A Survey of Defenses Against AI-Generated Visual Media: Detection,Disruption, and Authentication](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.10575/) (2024)
- [Blessing or curse? A survey on the Impact of Generative AI on Fake News](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.03021/) (2024)
- [Open-Set Deepfake Detection: A Parameter-Efficient Adaptation Method with Forgery Style Mixture](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.12791/) (2024)
- [Synthetic Photography Detection: A Visual Guidance for Identifying Synthetic Images Created by AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.06398/) (2024)
- [Localization of Synthetic Manipulations in Western Blot Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.13786/) (2024)
- [Explainable Artifacts for Synthetic Western Blot Source Attribution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.18881/) (2024)
- [Detect Fake with Fake: Leveraging Synthetic Data-driven Representation for Synthetic Image Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.08884/) (2024)
- [Spotting tell-tale visual artifacts in face swapping videos: strengths and pitfalls of CNN detectors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.16497/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Synthetic realities are digital creations or augmentations that are contextually generated through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods, leveraging extensive amounts of data to construct new narratives or realities, regardless of the intent to deceive. In this paper, we delve into the concept of synthetic realities and their implications for Digital Forensics and society at large within the rapidly advancing field of AI. We highlight the crucial need for the development of forensic techniques capable of identifying harmful synthetic creations and distinguishing them from reality. This is especially important in scenarios involving the creation and dissemination of fake news, disinformation, and misinformation. Our focus extends to various forms of media, such as images, videos, audio, and text, as we examine how synthetic realities are crafted and explore approaches to detecting these malicious creations. Additionally, we shed light on the key research challenges that lie ahead in this area. This study is of paramount importance due to the rapid progress of AI generative techniques and their impact on the fundamental principles of Forensic Science.