The AI Academic Programme aims to advance research, talent development, and global efforts against deepfake fraud.
Verification platform Sumsub launched its AI Academic Programme with Constructor University in Germany. The initiative aims to accelerate research and education in combating AI-powered digital fraud, while training the next generation of experts to strengthen global defences against synthetic threats.
The collaboration will fund academic research, scholarships, and open innovation projects, as well as provide students with opportunities to work directly within Sumsub’s product and technical teams. Research outputs, including open-source models and published articles, will be shared publicly to enhance industry-wide resilience.
“To fight deepfakes effectively, it is crucial to form alliances with top academic minds, which is why this collaboration is so important – no other player in the market is currently investing in this kind of research at such scale,” said Pavel Goldman-Kalaydin, Head of AI and ML at Sumsub.
“Over the past two years, deepfake fraud has been scaling rapidly both in quality and quantity, and with the democratization of AI tools. This partnership will combine research and practical solutions to help society stay ahead of these threats.”
Constructor University brings expertise through Professor Dmitry Vetrov, a leading AI researcher in Bayesian methods and generative models, and Professor Hilke Brockmann, who heads the AIDE project exploring AI’s social and ethical implications.
“This collaboration brings together academia and industry to tackle some of today’s most pressing challenges. We are excited to work with Sumsub to explore these challenges through thorough academic research and practical work,” said Dmitry Vetrov, Professor of Computer Science at Constructor University.
The partnership comes as deepfake fraud continues to rise sharply. Sumsub reported a 700% global increase in Q1 2025 compared with the previous year, with Asia Pacific seeing even higher spikes of 1500% in Singapore and 1900% in Hong Kong. Synthetic identity document fraud also grew by 195% globally, underscoring the urgency of stronger defences.
By combining Constructor University’s academic expertise with Sumsub’s industry leadership, the AI Academic Programme marks a step forward in building transparent, effective, and scalable AI-driven solutions to safeguard digital trust.
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