Asked by: Ben Spencer (Conservative - Runnymede and Weybridge)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has had discussions with the Government Office for Technology Transfer on their approach to supporting market innovation into (a) detecting, (b) preventing and (c) removing deepfake images created by generative Artificial Intelligence since July 2024.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Secretary of State has not had any conversations with the Government Office for Technology Transfer (GOTT) on this topic. GOTT helps to accelerate government’s innovations towards the market to impact growth and deliver new products and services for citizens.
Government, however, welcomes research on this important topic and has engaged with a wide range of stakeholders across industry, academia and civil society to understand the potential for further detection, prevention and removal of harmful and illegal generative AI content and to identify future research priorities.
Asked by: Ben Spencer (Conservative - Runnymede and Weybridge)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has had discussions with Research England on their approach to supporting research into (a) detecting, (b) preventing and (c) removing child sexual abuse images created by generative Artificial Intelligence since July 2024.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government has regular meetings with research and business organisations on matters relating to online safety and AI. The Online Safety Act places duties on platforms to proactively detect, prevent and remove child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including CSAM content created using AI technology. Ofcom has set out steps providers can take for these duties in draft codes of practice and will develop these iteratively. These steps include measures to detect, prevent and remove CSAM. The Act requires Ofcom to consult extensively when drafting its codes and Ofcom has an ongoing programme of research. The first code is due to come into force in Spring 2025.
Asked by: Ben Spencer (Conservative - Runnymede and Weybridge)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has had discussions with the Economic and Social Research Council on their approach to supporting research into (a) detecting, (b) preventing and (c) removing child sexual abuse images created by generative Artificial Intelligence since July 2024.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government has regular meetings with research and business organisations on matters relating to online safety and AI. The Online Safety Act places duties on platforms to proactively detect, prevent and remove child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including CSAM content created using AI technology. Ofcom has set out steps providers can take for these duties in draft codes of practice and will develop these iteratively. These steps include measures to detect, prevent and remove CSAM. The Act requires Ofcom to consult extensively when drafting its codes and Ofcom has an ongoing programme of research. The first code is due to come into force in Spring 2025.
Asked by: Ben Spencer (Conservative - Runnymede and Weybridge)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has had discussions with the Science and Technology Facilities Council on their approach to supporting research into (a) detecting, (b) preventing and (c) removing child sexual abuse images created by generative Artificial Intelligence since July 2024.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government has regular meetings with research and business organisations on matters relating to online safety and AI. The Online Safety Act places duties on platforms to proactively detect, prevent and remove child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including CSAM content created using AI technology. Ofcom has set out steps providers can take for these duties in draft codes of practice and will develop these iteratively. These steps include measures to detect, prevent and remove CSAM. The Act requires Ofcom to consult extensively when drafting its codes and Ofcom has an ongoing programme of research. The first code is due to come into force in Spring 2025.
Asked by: Ben Spencer (Conservative - Runnymede and Weybridge)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has had discussions with Innovate UK on their approach to supporting research into (a) detecting, (b) preventing and (c) removing child sexual abuse images created by generative Artificial Intelligence since July 2024.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government has regular meetings with research and business organisations on matters relating to online safety and AI. The Online Safety Act places duties on platforms to proactively detect, prevent and remove child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including CSAM content created using AI technology. Ofcom has set out steps providers can take for these duties in draft codes of practice and will develop these iteratively. These steps include measures to detect, prevent and remove CSAM. The Act requires Ofcom to consult extensively when drafting its codes and Ofcom has an ongoing programme of research. The first code is due to come into force in Spring 2025.
Asked by: Ben Spencer (Conservative - Runnymede and Weybridge)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to regulate the (a) detection, (b) prevention and (c) removal of deepfake images created by generative Artificial Intelligence.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Government made a clear manifesto commitment to ban the creation of sexually explicit deepfake images and we are bringing forward legislation to honour that commitment in the Crime and Policing Bill.
Under the Online Safety Act, it is already a criminal offence to share or threaten to share a sexually explicit deepfake.
We have designated the most harmful forms of deepfakes as priority illegal content, including child sexual exploitation and abuse and intimate image abuse. Services in scope will need to take proactive steps to prevent priority illegal content from appearing on their service and remove it quickly when it does.
Asked by: Ben Spencer (Conservative - Runnymede and Weybridge)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has had discussions with the Regulatory Innovation Office on UK research into (a) detecting, (b) preventing and (c) removing deepfake images created by generative Artificial Intelligence since July 2024.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
AI-generated content is captured by the Online Safety Act where it constitutes illegal content or content harmful to children on an in-scope service. We will also criminalise the creation of non-consensual sexual deepfakes through the Crime and Policing Bill.
We welcome research on this important topic. DSIT co-led the Deepfake Detection Challenge with the Home Office to assess existing capabilities and identify innovative solutions to overcome the challenges of deepfakes. In addition, we have engaged with a range of stakeholders across industry, academia and civil society to understand the potential for further detection, prevention and removal of deepfake content and identify future research priorities.
Asked by: Ben Spencer (Conservative - Runnymede and Weybridge)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has had discussions with the Science and Technology Facilities Council on their approach to supporting research into (a) detecting, (b) preventing and (c) removing deepfake images created by generative Artificial Intelligence since July 2024.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
AI-generated content is captured by the Online Safety Act where it constitutes illegal content or content harmful to children on an in-scope service. We will also criminalise the creation of non-consensual sexual deepfakes through the Crime and Policing Bill.
We welcome research on this important topic. DSIT co-led the Deepfake Detection Challenge with the Home Office to assess existing capabilities and identify innovative solutions to overcome the challenges of deepfakes. In addition, we have engaged with a range of stakeholders across industry, academia and civil society to understand the potential for further detection, prevention and removal of deepfake content and identify future research priorities.
Asked by: Ben Spencer (Conservative - Runnymede and Weybridge)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions he has had with the Economic and Social Research Council on supporting research into (a) detecting, (b) preventing and (c) removing deepfake images created by generative artificial intelligence since July 2024.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
AI-generated content is captured by the Online Safety Act where it constitutes illegal content or content harmful to children on an in-scope service. We will also criminalise the creation of non-consensual sexual deepfakes through the Crime and Policing Bill.
We welcome research on this important topic. DSIT co-led the Deepfake Detection Challenge with the Home Office to assess existing capabilities and identify innovative solutions to overcome the challenges of deepfakes. In addition, we have engaged with a range of stakeholders across industry, academia and civil society to understand the potential for further detection, prevention and removal of deepfake content and identify future research priorities.
Asked by: Ben Spencer (Conservative - Runnymede and Weybridge)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has had discussions with Innovate UK on their approach to supporting research into (a) detecting, (b) preventing and (c) removing deepfake images created by generative Artificial Intelligence since July 2024.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
AI-generated content is captured by the Online Safety Act where it constitutes illegal content or content harmful to children on an in-scope service. We will also criminalise the creation of non-consensual sexual deepfakes through the Crime and Policing Bill.
We welcome research on this important topic. DSIT co-led the Deepfake Detection Challenge with the Home Office to assess existing capabilities and identify innovative solutions to overcome the challenges of deepfakes. In addition, we have engaged with a range of stakeholders across industry, academia and civil society to understand the potential for further detection, prevention and removal of deepfake content and identify future research priorities.