Instructor: Sebastiano Battiato and Luca Guarnera, University of Catania
Level: Intermediate
Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of signal processing.

Benefits:
This course enables the attendee to:

• Acquire foundational knowledge in AI, generative models and digital forensics.
• Gain insights into multimedia forensics, learning about the primary technologies behind multimedia content manipulation, including everything from classic image and video forgery techniques to modern deepfake creation algorithms.
• Thoroughly analyze multimedia content to identify intrinsic and discriminative traces of manipulation.
• Develop a comprehensive understanding of artificial intelligence and generative models.
• Tackle a wide range of challenges in these fields.

Course Description:
The course covers the fundamentals of multimedia forensics, artificial intelligence, and generative models. Participants gain foundational knowledge in these critical areas, exploring classic image and video forgery techniques alongside modern deepfake creation algorithms. The course delves into the technologies behind multimedia content manipulation and effective detection methods. A significant focus is on generative models and the deepfake phenomenon, highlighting their role in producing synthetic media. By the end, students and researchers are equipped to analyze multimedia content and address challenges in AI and generative models confidently.

Intended Audience: PhD students and researchers

Sebastiano Battiato is a full professor and scientific coordinator of the PhD program in computer science, and deputy director for strategic planning and information systems at the University of Catania, Italy. His research interests include computer vision, imaging technology, and multimedia forensics. He is involved in research and directorship of the IPLab research lab. An IEEE senior member, he has edited six books, co-authored about 300 papers, is a co-inventor on 22 international patents, and has chaired several international events. Battiato was director of the International Computer Vision Summer School (ICVSS) for many years. He has been involved in the evaluation process of research projects on behalf of national and international institutions and has worked as a consultant on behalf of the public prosecutors of many Italian regions on issues related to imaging in the forensic field. Since 2016 he has been the founder and scientific advisor of iCTLab (www.ictlab.srl)—a spin-off of the University of Catania that operates in the field of digital forensics.

Luca Guarnera is a research fellow in computer science at the University of Catania. He received a PhD in computer science from the same university. Part of his PhD research was carried out at the University of Hertfordshire, under the supervision of Salvatore Livatino, where he worked on the creation of software for forensic ballistics analysis and firearms comparison, using the Oculus Rift S headset. He joined IPLab in 2015. In 2017 and 2019, he took part in two Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge (MBZIRC) international robotics competitions. He also participated in four editions of the International Computer Vision Summer School (ICVSS), one edition of Medical Imaging Summer School (MISS), and one edition of summer school on signal processing (S3P). His main research interests are computer vision, machine learning, and multimedia forensics and its related fields with a focus on the deepfake phenomenon.