Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to help protect consumers from (a) deepfake technology, (b) AI-generated phishing scams and (c) other fraud enabled by artificial intelligence.

Government takes the threats posed by generative AI extremely seriously. That is why we are taking forward our manifesto commitment to ban the creation of non-consensual sexual deepfakes in the Data (Use and Access) Bill.

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. Fraud is designated a priority offence under the Act, and in-scope services will need to take proactive measures to tackle illegal fraud content.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology also works jointly with the Home Office and HM Treasury through the Joint Fraud Taskforce to address fraud across different sectors.