AI godfather warns of deepfake threat to child safety | #childsafety | #kids | #chldern | #parents | #schoolsafey

Yoshua Bengio, a renowned figure in artificial intelligence and often referred to as an ‘AI godfather’ has raised a red flag regarding the escalating dangers of deepfake technology particularly in creating child sexual abuse imagery. Bengio along with other industry leaders signed an open letter urging increased regulation to combat the growing threats posed by deepfakes.

Deepfakes have evolved to be remarkably realistic utilizing AI to produce convincing voices, images and videos capable of deceiving individuals into believing they are genuine. The open letter emphasizes the urgent need for governments to enforce regulations across the entire deepfake supply chain to curb the proliferation of this technology.

The letter stresses the alarming rise of AI-generated pornography with minors being frequent targets. It calls for the introduction of new laws advocating for the complete criminalization of “deepfake child pornography, even when only fictional children are depicted.”

Titled ‘Disrupting the deepfake supply chain,’ the letter also highlights concerns about the potential use of AI deepfakes in fraud, election influence and causing mass confusion. The signatories argue that penalties should extend to software developers whose technology is misused for such purposes.

The open letter published on February 21 has garnered over 750 signatures including academics, politicians and researchers from prominent AI firms like Google DeepMind and OpenAI. This collective call for action echoes previous warnings from the AI community about the existential threats posed by advanced artificial intelligence.

In a similar vein last year leading figures in AI pledged support to a statement from the Centre for AI Safety asserting that advanced AI poses a global existential threat. The statement emphasized the need to prioritize mitigating the risks of AI alongside other significant societal-scale threats.

Taking a step further, a separate open letter from the Future of Life Institute in 2023 called on AI companies to pause development on their systems urging concerted efforts to address and mitigate the inherent risks associated with AI technology. The collective concern expressed by these experts underscores the importance of addressing the ethical and safety implications of AI advancements.