The International Symposium on Synthetic Media Attribution and Detection ISSMAD 2026 will be hosted by Google on August 20-21 in Mountain View, California, USA. 

This event brings together the world’s leading experts in signal processing to address the critical challenges of media authenticity. It is the first symposium of its kind. The organizing committee is chaired by Pei Cao (YouTube), program chair is Emre Sargin (YouTube), members are Amit Roy-Chowdhury (UC Riverside),  Athula Balachandran (YouTube), Jean-Baptiste Tien (YouTube), John Apostolopoulos (Google), Siwei Lyu (University of Buffalo), Vanina Mangano (YouTube).  

This event, co-sponsored by the IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS) and Google, aims to foster an open dialogue and collaboration. It brings together academic researchers, industry practitioners, and major platform representatives to share knowledge and expand engagement across the generative AI ecosystem.  

Key technical topics that will be featured include: 

• Detection and Forensics: Advancements in deepfake detection, scalable models, and forensics tools. 
• Proactive Prevention: Dedicated sessions on digital watermarking and C2PA (Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity) schemes. 
• Benchmarking & Competition: Establishing robust metrics and exploring a synthetic media detection competition. 

ISSMAD is structured to foster collaboration, ensuring direct alignment on research directions and practical applications for global content integrity challenges. Participants will include invited speakers, panelists, and researchers presenting work-in-progress, pre-published, or newly accepted research. 

Important Dates: 

• Submission Deadline: May 1, 2026 - 1:00pm PST 
• Notification of Acceptance: June 1, 2026 
• Symposium Dates: August 20-21, 2026 

More details in the Call for presentations and posters: https://rsvp.withgoogle.com/events/issmad2026/submissions.