Microsoft chief says AI deepfakes are a big concern, urges action to protect people from manipulated content

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Microsoft president Brad Smith says that he is concerned about deepfakes created through AI that can be used to defraud people. He added that we need to take action to protect people from such manipulated content.

New Delhi,UPDATED: May 28, 2023 12:37 IST

Microsoft's president, Brad Smith, says that what worries him the most about AI is the circulation of deepfakes. For the unversed, deepfakes refer to manipulated pictures or videos that seem real but are not. In March this year, several fake images of Donald Trump getting arrested took the internet by storm. Some people believed that the images were real and soon, the entire social media was full of these images. Not only this, the world also saw fake images of Elon Musk walking hand in hand with General Motors CEO Mary Barra and of Pope Francis wearing a white puffer jacket and shades.

Hence, with this, the era of AI deepfakes arrived. And now, Microsoft president says that his largest concern around AI is the generation of deepfakes.

Microsoft chief on deepfakes

According to a Reuters report, Smith was delivering a speech in Washington when he talked about concerns around AI-generated deepfakes. He said, "We're going have to address the issues around deep fakes. We're going to have to address in particular what we worry about most foreign cyber influence operations, the kinds of activities that are already taking place by the Russian government, the Chinese, the Iranians."

Smith further added that the need of the hour was to take steps to 'protect against the alteration of legitimate content with an intent to deceive or defraud people through the use of AI'. He also asked for licensing of AI with 'obligations to protect security, physical security, cybersecurity, national security'.

"We will need a new generation of export controls, at least the evolution of the export controls we have, to ensure that these models are not stolen or not used in ways that would violate the country's export control requirements," he added.

Sam Altman talking about concerns on AI

Brad Smith isn't the only tech expert calling for AI regulation. His business partner and OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, also echoed a similar sentiment during a recent Senate panel hearing in the US.

Altman told US lawmakers that if AI goes wrong, it can go 'quite wrong' and hence, regulation for the emerging tech was needed. Altman also said that OpenAI is willing to cooperate with the government to prevent harm.

"I think if this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong. And we want to be vocal about that," he said and added, "We want to work with the government to prevent that from happening."

Published By:

Divyanshi Sharma

Published On:

May 28, 2023

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