Russia Boosts Public Literacy on Deepfakes and AI Misinformation

With deepfake scams on the rise, Russian experts are urging the public to develop sharper digital instincts to detect AI-generated fakes.

As neural networks evolve, distinguishing between real and synthetic content is becoming increasingly difficult. Deepfakes—AI-generated videos or audio meant to deceive—have become a common tool for scammers.

Experts from VTB Bank have identified several red flags in AI-generated visuals: anatomical inaccuracies, distorted perspectives, and illogical details. AI-generated text often reveals itself through repetitive phrasing and unnatural language patterns.

Their advice: scrutinize images carefully. Do the people have the correct number of fingers? Are the shadows natural? Are there odd inscriptions in nonsensical languages or jumbled letters?

Readers should also assess the tone and structure of text. AI often produces vague, overly cheerful, or excessively explanatory writing—and most dangerously, it may distort facts without the ability to verify them.

To help detect synthetic content, Russians now have access to tools like Forensic and GPTZero, developed domestically.

“The key is to critically evaluate information and never trust something just because it looks perfect,” says VTB expert Alexey Pustynnikov.