AI bots flooded 2023 UK government consultation on disposable vapes ban

It is thought to have been the first coordinated attempt to use AI to derail health policymaking in the UK. It is thought to have been the first coordinated attempt to use AI to derail health policymaking in the UK. AI bots flooded a government consultation with tens of thousands of fake responses in a failed attempt to stop the UKâ s ban on disposable vapes. Three-quarters of all the responses to the 2023 consultation on the tobacco and vapes bill were machine-generated, in what is thought to be the first coordinated attempt to use AI to derail health policymaking in the UK. The attempt to manipulate the outcome of the consultation was disclosed on Tuesday in research published in the journal Tobacco Control by the health policy experts Dr Nason Maani, from the University of Edinburgh, and Prof Anna Gilmore, of the University of Bath.