In a landmark move, the Scottish Parliament is endorsing Control AI's campaign on deepfakes. On February 29th, Kevin Stewart tabled a motion expressing support for Control AI's objectives: it calls for the UK government to enact stringent controls on deepfake production, proposes that the creation and dissemination of such content is criminalised, and asks that developers, as well as service providers, are held accountable for negligence.
At the heart of this discussion lies the burgeoning concern over deepfake technology – a concern that has catalysed an ever growing cross-party coalition of British parliamentarians to rally behind Control AI’s campaign aimed at curbing the proliferation of deepfakes.
Amidst this legislative push, the AI landscape continues to rapidly evolve. Notably, Google-backed Anthropic, recently unveiled Claude, an AI model designed to epitomise the concept of “putting the ‘Intelligence’ in Artificial Intelligence.” A recent account shared by an Anthropic prompt engineer touches on Claude's ability to discern between testing scenarios and deployment, which suggests an advanced level of awareness (and self-awareness) that could potentially lead to deceptive behaviours, mirroring the concerns surrounding deepfakes.
As we chart our course through these turbulent waters, the discourse around superintelligent AI – and the spectre of it veering beyond our control – looms large. The motion in the Scottish Parliament marks a significant step in this journey, underscoring the critical need for preemptive measures against the risks posed by deepfakes and, by extension, the broader challenges of AI governance.
We shouldn't lose sight of the high stakes involved as AI becomes more and more powerful. Innovation is vital, but from deepfakes to super-intelligence, we need to ensure the pursuit of progress remains aligned with humanity benefiting from AI, which can only happen if humanity stays in control.
It is pathetic how far behind other legislators the UK is. As usual, today, the UK has lost any credibility-well done Scotland.