AI: “Nudify” Apps

Lord Browne of Ladyton Excerpts

Tuesday 13th February 2024 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Camrose (Con)]

I start by acknowledging that the creation of intimate image deepfakes using AI or other means is abusive and deeply distressing to anyone concerned and very disturbing to all of us. The Law Commission consulted widely on this, looking at the process of taking, making, possessing and sharing deepfakes, and its conclusion was that the focus of legislative effort ought to be on sharing, which it now is. That said, this is a fast-moving space. The capabilities of these tools are growing rapidly and, sadly, the number of users is growing rapidly, so we will continue to monitor that.

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)]

My Lords, the applications referred to in the excellent Question put by the noble Baroness, Lady Owen, represent a dangerous and overwhelmingly misogynistic trend of non-consensual deepfake pornography. They are able to be developed and distributed only because of advances in AI, and sit alongside the use of deepfakes for political disinformation and fraud. Polling suggests public ambivalence towards AI but near unanimity around deepfakes, with 80% of people supporting a ban, according to a recent YouGov survey. Cloud computing and services hosting AI models are essential for deepfake creation, and the fact that all major cloud suppliers have a presence in the UK empowers our Government uniquely to enforce best practice. Does the Minister agree that our regulatory system should not merely ban deepfakes but go further, imposing upon the developers a duty to show how and in what way they are applying existing techniques and restrictions that could prevent their creation in the first place?

[Viscount Camrose (Con)]

An outright ban on the creation of any deepfake material presents a number of challenges, but obviously I applaud the sentiment behind the question. With respect particularly to deepfakes involved in intimate image abuse, we are clearly putting in place the offence of sharing, whether as part of the new intimate image abuse offences in the Online Safety Act that commenced two weeks ago, as part of the Criminal Justice Bill shortly to come before your Lordships’ House, or indeed under the existing child sexual exploitation and abuse offences. There are severe penalties for the sharing of intimate image abuse deepfakes, but it is a fast-moving space and we have to continue to monitor it.