We have all seen or read about examples of media created by
generative artificial intelligence (GenAI): synthesized images,
videos and audio that appear to represent real people or famous
characters. From the benign to the blameworthy and every
conceivable shade in between, this rising phenomenon has only just
begun to make its cultural presence felt.
It is only natural, then, that as AI-generated fakes have become
easier to create, harder to distinguish and more widely used,
worries about their danger, legality and societal impact have
intensified. In particular, concerns have been raised about the use
of deepfakes to create sexually explicit images and videos, false
endorsements, misleading political statements and defamatory
speech. Even where the falsehood is obvious, the credibility of AI
videos has reached a level where the moral offence and emotional
distress caused may be severe.
