MPs Seek BD50,000 Fines for AI Fakes

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

AI fakes used to blackmail, threaten or smear people would carry up to five years in jail and a BD50,000 fine under a bill put forward by five MPs.

Dr Hisham Al Ashiri, Mohsen Al Asbool, Jalila Alawi, Hanan Fardan and Basma Mubarak want Bahrain's Information Technology Crimes Law changed to punish the misuse of AI-made images, voices and videos.

The bill would make it an offence to knowingly use AI, without lawful grounds, to create, alter or piece together an image, voice recording or video made to look as though it came from a real person and which breaches their privacy.

That offence would carry a jail term, a fine of up to BD30,000, or both.

The punishment would rise to up to five years in prison and a fine of up to BD50,000 when the fake material is published, shared, sent or made available to others.

The same higher penalty would apply when the material is used to blackmail, threaten, defame or harm the victim.

The MPs also want the law to spell out what counts as AI technology.

Their wording covers systems, software and apps using algorithms to make, change or piece together digital material, including pictures, sound and video, so that it looks real or appears to come from a named person.

The bill comes as AI tools make it easier to produce fake pictures, voices and footage that can be hard to tell from the real thing.

Its explanatory note says AI has many lawful uses, but the same tools can be used to invade privacy, wreck reputations, blackmail people or issue threats.

It says the risk is greatest when fake or altered material is pinned on someone without lawful grounds and made to look as though they created it, said it or appeared in it.