Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2024 to Question 8779 on Artificial Intelligence: Elections, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the use of deepfakes during recent elections in Bangladesh.

We noted the results of the Bangladesh Election on 7 January. As democratic elections depend on credible, open, and fair competition, we are concerned by the reported use of deepfakes and AI generated disinformation to undermine the democratic process in Bangladesh. The UK Government works continuously to understand, assess and address the risks presented by emerging and critical technologies. In the lead up to the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety Summit, a suite of products was published by the Government to help inform the public and Summit participants of our assessment of the risks and opportunities associated with the use of AI.