Deepfake tech and AI a worry for Europol

THE HAGUE: The use of deepfake technology is gaining ground in the criminal underworld and should be targeted as a priority, Europe’s policing agency warned yesterday.

The ability to coerce people online, or to create entirely new personas, could be used to devastating effect in the wrong hands, Europol said. It released a 23-page report looking at how artificial intelligence and deepfake technology could be used to erode trust in authority and official facts.

“Experts fear this may lead to a situation where citizens no longer have a shared reality, or could create societal confusion about which information sources are reliable,” it said. Businesses too were at risk.