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Written by Kayleigh Madjar / Staff Writer, CNA
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday called for a judicial investigation into the possible illegal use of artificial intelligence (AI) to imitate President William Lai’s voice in a video criticizing the government’s response to the cooking oil safety scandal.
The Bureau of Criminal Investigation announced on Sunday that it had received a report regarding the video titled “You Don’t Get It”.
The paper said authorities were investigating the matter because the use of the video could mislead the public into thinking it was an official statement from the president.
Photo: Chengjun Lin, Taipei Times
Over the past few weeks, authorities have recalled batches of raw cooking oil produced by Central Union Oil Corporation (CUOC) that were found to contain excess amounts of the carcinogen benzopyrene.
Local media reported that the video’s producer, surnamed Wei, had been contacted by police.
At a press conference on food safety in Hsinchu City in Taipei, Democratic Progressive Party spokesperson Justin Wu (吳崢) said using technology to impersonate someone else could fall under the crime of falsifying private documents.
Mr Wu said the impersonation of public figures and politicians had resulted in significant social costs over the past few years, and called on the public to remain vigilant against fraud and disinformation.
He added that if a government official or the president or vice president were targeted, the impact on society would be even more severe and a thorough judicial investigation would be required.
Asked by reporters about the opposition’s plans to hold another rally on Ketagalan Boulevard on Saturday focused on fighting drunk and drug-impaired driving and demanding justice, DPP said it respects the right of political parties and people to assemble and protest.
But because the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is the largest party in the Legislative Yuan, he said the key to cooperating with the government and the Democratic Progressive Party on issues such as drug-driving and food safety is to encourage institutional improvements in the Legislative Yuan.
The Kuomintang caucus held another press conference in Taipei yesterday, saying Taiwan was becoming a “police state” and condemning the investigation into Wei.
Nationalist Party Caucus Secretary-General Lin Peixiang contrasted the government’s slow response to the cooking oil scandal with the swift dispatch of police to investigate people who criticized the government.
“Is the president’s ego more important than the health of the people in the eyes of the government?” Lin said, demanding that authorities clarify the reason for the investigation and which laws were allegedly violated.
Xu Yubin, deputy general secretary of the Nationalist Party Caucus, accused the government of selective law enforcement, saying the government’s eagerness to silence dissent was creating a “chilling effect.”
KMT Legislative Committee member Niu Huanting asked why the bureau, which is normally tasked with dealing with serious crimes, was being used to investigate the video.
Jin Menghua, a law professor at National Yangming Jiaotong University, said that whenever AI is used to simulate human voices or images to create political content, it should be clearly labeled as AI-generated and subject to clear disclosure obligations.
Clearer legal liability and penalty mechanisms need to be established to prevent such content from misleading the public, he said.
If AI-generated content is not published or intentionally gives the false impression of authenticity, it could constitute forgery, a breach of honor, a violation of the Personal Data Protection Act, or a violation of an individual’s rights or right to speak, Chin said.
