 Anthony E. Zuiker , creator of the CSI franchise , claimed that " all of the science is accurate " on the shows ; researchers , however , have described CSI 's portrayal of forensic science as " high @-@ tech magic . " Forensic scientist Thomas Mauriello estimated that 40 percent of the scientific techniques depicted on CSI do not exist . In addition to using unrealistic techniques , CSI ignores all elements of uncertainty present in real investigations , and instead portrays experimental results as absolute truth . The notion that these inaccurate portrayals could alter the public perception of forensic evidence was dubbed the " CSI effect " , a term which began to appear in mainstream media as early as 2004 . By 2009 , more than 250 stories about the CSI effect had appeared in newspapers and magazines , including articles in National Geographic , Scientific American , and U.S. News & World Report . 
