The mother of James Bulger, the toddler who was brutally murdered in 1993, has expressed her criticism of AI-generated videos on TikTok that depict her son’s death. Denise Fergus stated that these videos, which feature an AI-generated image of James explaining the events leading to his murder, are causing her to relive the traumatic incident. She described the portrayal as “beyond sick” and expressed her distress at seeing a deceased child being brought back to life.
One of the videos even included a photograph of the railway line where James’ body was found. Fergus voiced her disapproval of using a dead child’s face to narrate the details of his tragic fate, calling it “absolutely disgusting”. Her husband, Stuart Fergus, reached out to the person responsible for the clips, requesting their removal. However, the individual justified their actions by stating their intention was to prevent such incidents from happening again.
TikTok has responded to the issue by removing multiple videos after they were reported and taking action against the accounts responsible for uploading them. The platform has emphasized its commitment to providing a welcoming space for all users and stated that content of this nature violates its guidelines. In their statement, TikTok clarified that synthetic media containing the likeness of a young person is not allowed and will continue to be removed.
The creation of these AI-generated videos has raised concerns regarding copyright and privacy, as the technology relies on public data. The lack of data protection laws in the UK has led to discussions about the potential misuse of AI in creating digital reincarnations of the deceased.
While the UK has chosen not to establish a dedicated regulatory body for artificial intelligence, plans are in motion in the EU to draft the world’s first law to regulate the industry. In the meantime, the Competition and Markets Authority in the UK is monitoring the development of AI models that use large amounts of unlabelled data.
Although these AI-generated videos may aim to prevent similar tragedies, they have sparked a debate surrounding the ethical implications of using technology to recreate the experiences of deceased individuals.
