UK's enemies could use AI deepfakes to try to rig election, says James Cleverly

Criminals and "malign actors" working on behalf of malicious states could use AI-generated "deepfakes" to hijack the general election, the home secretary has said. James Cleverly was speaking before meetings with social media bosses and said the rapid advancement of technology could pose a serious threat to elections across the globe. He warned that people working on behalf of states such as Russia and Iran could generate thousands of deepfakes – highly realistic hoax images and videos – to manipulate the democratic process in countries such as the UK. He told the Times that "increasingly today the battle of ideas and policies takes place in the ever-changing and expanding digital sphere", adding: "The era of deepfake and AI-generated content to mislead and disrupt is already in play. "The landscape it is inserted into needs its rules, transparency and safeguards for its users.