Essex Police and EE Mobile join forces to warn about the dangers of AI

Police have announced that it is the first time they are working with a telephone company to educate young people and their families about the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI).

Essex Police will be working with EE and its parent company BT to release an awareness video and provide AI-powered safety advice in stores across the county.

AI has been used to manipulate videos, images, and audio to appear real, known as deepfakes, for the purpose of spreading sexual abuse and disinformation online.

Detective Inspector Emma Portfleet said AI apps “may be used for positive reasons, but they also have the potential to cause untold harm”.

In this video, the young actor talks about the benefits of AI, describing it as “magical.”

The boy then appears filming an elderly man using a walker on the high street, and uses the technique to adjust the footage to make it appear as if the man is pirouetting like a ballet dancer.

He tells the audience that AI could be used to “spread lies and invade privacy.”

Essex Police said it was working with the results of the AI ​​video on a daily basis.

In April, Braintree bartender Brandon Taylor, 26, was sentenced to five years in prison for creating sexually explicit images of real women.

He took photos from their social media accounts and used AI to manipulate them before sharing them on his website, some of which glorified rape.

Sharing sexually explicit deepfake images is a criminal offense under the Online Safety Act 2023, which the government announced this year would be strengthened.

The problems posed by deepfakes are manifold and far-reaching.

George Freeman, Conservative MP for Mid Norfolk, reported the deepfake to police in October.

The fake video looked and sounded like the MP announcing his defection to Reform UK.

Freeman is calling for legal reforms to protect victims.

Inspector Portfleet, who heads Essex Police’s online investigations team, said the online and real worlds are “merging so quickly that it’s very difficult for people to tell what’s fake and what’s real”.

“This campaign is just one way to get ahead of the problem. We always investigate crimes, but we’d rather stop them from happening in the first place,” she said.

From January, EE Mobile Phone Stores in Essex will be offering a dedicated booking service for families wanting to learn more about AI safety.

“We understand that growing in the online world can be difficult,” said Asif Aziz, EE Retail Director.

“We want to help young people and their parents better navigate the online world with confidence and positivity.”

The Cambridge-based Internet Watch Foundation is responsible for finding, removing and blocking online images of child sexual abuse, including those generated by AI.

Chief Executive Officer Kelly Smith welcomed the campaign.

“The harm is real and children feel shame and guilt as if the photo were real,” she says.

She said children can confidentially report sexual images of themselves online using IWF and Childline’s report removal tool.

“We can take steps to remove it as soon as possible.”