Synthetic media are images, audio, video and text that are wholly or partly created or altered with AI. The term covers everything from a generated mood image to a synthetic voice or a deepfake.
Many organisations already use synthetic media for illustrations, image generation, video translation or voice-overs. The question is when the audience needs to know. A generated image of a cup of coffee misleads no one. A synthetic video in which the CEO says something she never said does.
In practice
Agree which kinds of synthetic media you use and when you disclose it. Be especially careful with realistic images of real people, places and events. That is where the EU AI Act's transparency obligations and your credibility are most at stake.
See also AI labelling.
The concepts in this glossary run through my AI courses and workshops, where we work with them on your own tasks.