Walter Scheirer
Computer Science and Engineering
Assistant Professor
- Image forensics
- Computer vision
- Machine learning
- Biometrics
Video
Scheirer’s Latest News
Scheirer in the News
Yahoo
Videos of migrants in US facility are likely AI-generated: experts
December 01, 2025
"They appear to be very low-quality synthetic videos posted by a known source of AI content," said Walter Scheirer, a professor of computer science and engineering at Notre Dame and the author of a book covering online deception.
ABC News
How cardinals are using social media ahead of the papal conclave
May 05, 2025
Another potential challenge the cardinals face when posting on social media is a slew of negative comments, according to Walter Scheirer, professor of engineering who researches internet culture at the University of Notre Dame.
WSBT TV
Blurred realities -- The dark side of deep fakes
Video
March 13, 2025
"The algorithm that we typically call deep fakes came out in 2017 and it was released publicly to the internet specifically to create pornographic videos," said Walter Scheirer a professor at Notre Dame. Scheirer has been involved in media forensics for years. He said the prevalence of these crimes has grown.
Tech Story
AI-generated images depicting Trump raise concerns about the use of AI
November 27, 2024
Walter Scheirer, an engineering professor at the University of Notre Dame, identified the image as a product of a generative AI algorithm.
USA Today
Image of Donald Trump wading through flood water is AI-generated | Fact check
October 04, 2024
Walter Scheirer, an engineering professor at the University of Notre Dame, told USA TODAY the image is likely "the product of a generative AI algorithm."
NPR
Throughline: The Conspiracy Files
Audio
September 12, 2024
On today's episode, we travel the internet from UFOs, through 9/11, to COVID, to trace how we ended up in a world that can't be believed. Guests include: Walter Scheirer, Dennis O'Dowdy Collegiate Professor of Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, and author of A History of Fake Things On The Internet.
USA Today
Deepfake video shows Tim Walz dancing in cowboy outfit
September 06, 2024
Walter Scheirer, an engineering professor at the University of Notre Dame whose area of research includes visual recognition, said the Instagram video appeared to be a "very obvious face swap using a deepfake-like algorithm."
USA Today
Purported risqué photos of Kamala Harris are not legitimate | Fact check
August 30, 2024
Walter Scheirer, a professor at the University of Notre Dame who specializes in visual disinformation, told USA TODAY the visual errors are consistent with those seen in AI-generated images. He also noted the lack of legitimate sourcing for the image.
The Progressive
One Question: What can people do to combat disinformation in the 2024 election season?
June 07, 2024
Walter Scheirer, Professor of engineering at the University of Notre Dame, author of A History of Fake Things on the Internet: In this age of the Internet, older communications media still exist, and they tend to be more trustworthy sources of information when compared to social media.
USA Today
Image of Trump, Epstein and Diddy is combination of AI and editing | Fact check
April 25, 2024
Walter Scheirer, a professor of engineering at the University of Notre Dame, told USA TODAY the hands and unnaturally-rendered fingers of those in the image are clear indications the picture was most likely AI-generated.
Wisconsin Public Radio
Does AI dream?
April 02, 2024
The internet is indeed overflowing with fake content, says computer scientist Walter Scheirer.
USA Today
Image of Donald Trump leading crowd down flag-lined street is AI-generated | Fact check
March 15, 2024
The original also contains several hallmarks of AI-generated images that are less prominent in the more recent version, Walter Scheirer, an associate professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Notre Dame, told USA TODAY in an email.
WGN
‘A History of Fake Things on the Internet’
December 29, 2023
Author Walter Scheirer discusses his new book about how advances in technology brought us to the point where faked texts, images, and video content are nearly indistinguishable from what is authentic or true.
WSBT TV
Notre Dame professor weighs in on creative uses for Artificial Intelligence
December 26, 2023
Walter Scheirer, a Notre Dame Associate Professor and author of "A History of Fake Things on the Internet," says AI and human creativity is not mutually exclusive.
Nautilus
Stop Worrying About Deepfakes
December 21, 2023
And yet, when Walter Scheirer, a computer scientist and media forensics expert at the University of Notre Dame, sent his students to scour the internet for examples of AI-doctored videos, what they brought back surprised him. It was, he says, “memes all the way down.”
IEEE Spectrum
Fakes: Not an Internet Thing, a Human Thing
December 15, 2023
University of Notre Dame computer science professor WalterJ. Scheirer has come at this core problem of online speech, including images, from an unconventional direction.
The Washington Post
Yes, people lie online. But it may matter less than we fear.
December 06, 2023
In “A History of Fake Things on the Internet,” computer scientist Walter J. Scheirer proposes that much of what has been disparaged as “misinformation” is best considered under a different rubric: that of art.
The New Yorker
What the Doomsayers Get Wrong About Deepfakes
November 13, 2023
The computer scientist Walter J. Scheirer has worked in media forensics for years. He understands more than most how these new technologies could set off a society-wide epistemic meltdown, yet he sees no signs that they are doing so. Doctored videos online delight, taunt, jolt, menace, arouse, and amuse, but they rarely deceive. As Scheirer argues in his new book, “A History of Fake Things on the Internet” (Stanford), the situation just isn’t as bad as it looks.
Salon
Limits to growth: Can AI’s voracious appetite for data be tamed?
November 05, 2021
"It seems to me that the big internet companies are very reluctant to even talk about this because it threatens their core business," said Walter Scheirer, a computer scientist at the University of Notre Dame.