AI-generated fake news is a serious threat, UN report says

Kathmandu: The United Nations has called artificial intelligence-generated media a ‘serious and urgent’ threat to information integrity, particularly on social media.

The UN in its June 12 report claimed that the risk of disinformation online has intensified due to rapid advancements in technology, such as generative artificial intelligence. The report singled out deepfakes in particular.

The UN said false information and hate speech generated by AI is convincingly presented to users as fact. Last month, the S&P 500 briefly dipped due to an AI-generated image and faked news report of an explosion near the Pentagon.

The UN called for AI stakeholders to address the spread of false information and asked them to take urgent and immediate action to ensure the responsible use AI.

UN Secretary-General on Monday warned that artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to spread disinformation and hate, as he backed a proposal for the creation of an international watchdog to monitor the technology.

Speaking at the launch of a new policy on disinformation on Monday, Antonio Guterres said that while technological advancement has been used for some good, the risks posed by AI threatens democracy and human rights.

‘Alarm bells over the latest form of artificial intelligence – generative AI – are deafening. And they are loudest from the developers who designed it,’ Guterres told reporters, ‘These scientists and experts have called on the world to act, declaring AI an existential threat to humanity on a par with the risk of nuclear war. We must take those warnings seriously.’

Guterres has also announced plans to start work by the end of the year on a high-level AI advisory body to regularly review AI governance arrangements and offer recommendations on how they can align with human rights, the rule of law and common good.