On Tuesday, June 3rd, PhD candidate Sohail Ahmed Khan will defend his PhD thesis “Computational Visual Content Verification”. The trial lecture starts at 09.15, and the defense starts at 10.30.

In his dissertation, Sohail Khan explores how newsrooms verify visual user-generated content (UGC) and examines growing challenges related to manipulated media content such as deepfakes and cheapfakes. The dissertation analyses current verification practices in journalism, maps existing tools and workflows, and uncovers a clear gap between technological advances and newsroom practices.

Through the thesis, Sohail contributes both a critical review of the current verification landscape and new AI-based methods for detecting deepfakes and cheapfakes. The research also emphasises the need for closer collaboration between researchers and journalists, and highlights initiatives to build a research community around these challenges, including through international media verification competitions.

Opponents:

• Professor Giulia Boato, Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento
• Associate Professor Nhien-An Le-Khac, School of Computer Science, University College Dublin

Chair of the committee: Professor Bjørnar Tessem

Chair of the defense: Professor Knut Helland