Researchers warn synthetic media quality has advanced to the point that deepfakes and voice clones are often indistinguishable from authentic recordings, increasing risks for fraud, campus reputations and academic integrity. Voice cloning and temporally consistent video models are cited as key technical leaps. New York Assemblymember Alex Bores and other technologists propose cryptographic provenance standards (C2PA-style metadata) to certify authentic content. Universities will likely need new verification protocols for admissions, remote proctoring, media courses and research dissemination.