Experts urge government action on AI misinformation regulation

The convergence of AI, politics, and media is becoming a critical issue in the United Kingdom, with recent developments highlighting the need for decisive regulatory measures. As concerns grow over the impact of AI-generated misinformation on democratic processes, experts are calling for immediate intervention by the government.

Mark Jones, a partner at law firm Payne Hicks Beach, emphasised the growing threat posed by satirical deepfakes. These AI-generated videos, often featuring political leaders in fabricated scenarios, are being disseminated widely on platforms like TikTok, which is increasingly becoming a source of news, particularly among younger voters.

"Whilst much focus has been on sexually explicit deepfakes, there is an increasing use of satirical deepfakes, which could have an impact on the forthcoming election," Jones said. "The decline in newspaper readership and incline in TikTok as a news source makes the impact of deepfakes more concerning. It will be interesting to see the impact this has on votes, especially in the younger generation demographic. What is clear is that the next government needs to make decisive moves to regulate this area of law."

In the realm of AI research and development, the Conservative Party's recent manifesto promises a significant investment of GBP £1.5 billion in large-scale compute clusters to support the country's AI industry. Ekaterina Almasque, General Partner at OpenOcean and an experienced investor in AI start-ups, welcomed the commitment, highlighting the potential benefits for the UK start-up community.

"If realised, the Conservative Party's manifesto commitment to invest GBP £1.5 billion in large-scale compute clusters would be a boon for UK start-ups. It could enhance the country's AI capabilities significantly, supporting both cutting-edge research and the development of scalable, sustainable AI solutions that can drive future economic growth," Almasque remarked. She stressed, however, that it is vital to create frameworks allowing innovative start-ups access to these resources at a fair rate. "This step would help pave the way to create Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's vision of a homegrown $1 trillion British Microsoft."

Nevertheless, there has been criticism regarding the broader digital strategy of the Conservatives. Amanda Brock, CEO of OpenUK, criticised the manifesto for its lack of a comprehensive digital strategy, suggesting it was a missed opportunity to cement the UK's leading position in AI and digital innovation.

"Protecting our pubs appears to be a higher priority objective in the Conservative Manifesto than enabling the UK's digital future. The words pubs, digital, and AI each achieve seven mentions," Brock pointed out. "A year-plus of hard work in AI that had begun to see the UK taking advantage of its position in both open-source and AI to deliver leadership and offer the opportunity to reap rewards has apparently been largely omitted from the manifesto. The recent and commendable shift to open sourcing tooling around AI, building an elegant solution to AI regulation and an ecosystem to support that, is lost in a manifesto that simply misses the opportunity to set out principles for a digital future."

Brock further noted that while the manifesto mentions continued investment in digital infrastructure, energy, and transport, it fails to provide detailed plans on achieving these goals beyond the additional roll-out of broadband. She also questioned the efficacy of proposed measures to address the skills gap in tech, such as the Advanced British Standard and teacher bonuses, suggesting they fall short of what is necessary to make a substantial impact.

"From a tech sector perspective, and in respect of the UK's digital future, the Conservative Manifesto is an opportunity missed," Brock concluded.