Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the answer of 9 December to Question 96093, what steps the Government is taking to safeguard individuals from non-sexually explicit deepfakes, digital impersonation, and the misuse of personal identity.

Solutions that help to determine what media is real and what is AI-generated are key to tackling a range of AI risks. The government is undertaking work to explore the potential methods for detecting AI-generated content.

The UK’s Online Safety Act has introduced duties on in scope services to tackle digital impersonation where it amounts to an existing offence, including false statements about a candidate's character or conduct ahead of or during an election.

The UK also has strong data protection laws to help tackle the misuse of personal identity, through the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. These laws require that any personal data processing is lawful, fair and transparent.