Deepfake AI tech could assist and empower online predators, safety expert warns

Criminals are taking advantage of AI technology to conduct misinformation campaigns, commit fraud and obstruct justice through deepfake audio and video. Australia's eSafety Commission has raised concerns about the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) to assist predators in grooming children online as the country debates restrictions on the emerging technology. Australian eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant posted on Twitter that "the manipulative power of generative AI to execute on grooming and sextortion is no longer speculative." "eSafety is already receiving cyberbullying reports and image-based abuse reports around deepfakes," she wrote. "The fact is AI has been'exfiltrated into the wild' without guardrails."