Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of reports of networks linked to the Iranian regime using AI-generated images and videos to disseminate fabricated scenes of conflict on social media platforms; and what steps she is taking with international partners to disrupt such activity and strengthen global resilience to state-sponsored disinformation.

We are concerned about reports of alleged Iranian information manipulation and interference both in the Middle East and beyond. The government has invested in our capacity to disrupt information networks targeting the UK and our international partners and will continue to do so. It is clear that artificial intelligence poses challenges, for example, by making it potentially quicker, easier, and cheaper for malign actors to conduct information operations. We will continue to work with our allies, and through the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, in partnership with technology companies, to understand the growing impact of artificial intelligence on states' ability to conduct information operations.