Dealing with deepfakes

RESPONDING TO concerns by Independent Senator Anthony Vieira about the prevalence of deepfakes, Minister of Public Administration and AI Dominic Smith noted that the Caribbean Telecommunications Union, of which he is currently the president, had established a committee to address the risks associated with AI use.

It wasn’t his first plan to act on AI fraud. In September, Mr Smith announced an inter-ministerial committee to deal with cybersecurity threats and AI-enabled scams. The proposed committee is made up of far too many representatives of marginally-related stakeholders. The Attorney General’s Office should be involved, because it will need to take the lead in moving quickly amending legislation to criminalise cybersecurity threats in TT.

The police service’s cyber and social media unit should be there and tasked with responding appropriately to citizen concerns.

The TT Cybersecurity Incident and Response Team (TTCSIRT) is the tip of the spear of cybersecurity response, the agency best positioned to issue website takedown notices and report falsehoods on social media platforms.

Homeland Security, the Financial Intelligence Unit, the Finance Ministry and the Office of the PM can read the reports of a leaner committee’s activities along with the wider public.

When it comes to the use of artificial intelligence to create falsehoods, both committees are starting from far behind the curve.

The increasing ease with which images and videos can be created which mimic the likenesses of identifiable personalities and their widespread use in scams and disinformation campaigns demands faster response.

The creation of these fake representations is so widespread that it now has a formal name, AI slop, a reference to the ease of its creation and its total lack of merit in sensible discourse.

Fake videos of emotional hot-button topics like the Holocaust are subjects of widespread AI slop, using existing visuals to create completely false video clips and images that can overwhelm verifiable history. These clips are quickly monetised on platforms like Facebook. Newsday's website design has been welded to videos and images that purport to be messages from prominent citizens encouraging investments in dubious financial schemes.

While committee meetings are being scheduled and agenda points debated, deepfaked Davendranath Tancoo lures investors into one scam after another. Responding to AI slop demands focused, specific action executed at digital speed, not at the pace of cabinet contemplation.

Mr Smith can expect, in short order, deepfakes that are sophisticated enough to fool even the sceptical.

Cybersecurity attacks will make increasing use of these technologies to gather personally identifiable information and company credentials.

A fast-moving, technology-savvy task force is called for to respond to this growing threat, not another committee drowning in meeting paperwork.