Content generation by artificial intelligence finds many applications not only in creative professions and all situations where creativity is needed. Artificial intelligence is also used in the creation of phishing and broadly understood disinformation, which is noticed not only by cybersecurity experts but also by the European Union.

On Monday, June 5, Vera Jourova, Vice-President of the European Commission, met with the signatories of the Code of Practice on Disinformation – an agreement concluded in 2018 between the EC and the largest technology companies on the European market, m.in. Google, Meta (then still Facebook), TikTok, Microsoft and Mozilla. At the end of May, Twitter withdrew from the agreement.

The European Commission and Big Techy are side by side against disinformation. The President of the European Commission gives guidelines

In addition to analysing the efforts made so far by the companies to implement solutions in accordance with the provisions of the Code, Jourova called on the signatories to address further challenges that have arisen in recent months. Specifically, we are talking about protecting the Internet space during elections, ensuring access to data for scientists, fighting Russian disinformation or addressing the risks associated with artificial intelligence.

The Vice-President of the European Commission focused primarily on generative AI, mentioning Bard, Bing and ChatGPT as potential sources and tools for creating disinformation, which should have the necessary anti-abuse system implemented.

Jourova sees a threat not only in widely available large language models but also in text-to-image or text-to-speech models that allow the generation of any image, speech, sound and video. It, therefore, urged signatories to implement AI-generated content labelling schemes so that users from European countries are aware that they are interacting with false content.

When it comes to AI creation, I don’t see the right of machines to free speech. Signatories to the EU Code of Conduct against Disinformation should implement technology to recognise AI content and clearly label it to users.

Jourova told reporters

At the same time, it called for priority to be given to flagging AI-generated content in “smaller Member States and languages”. According to the politicians, it is primarily about the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which “are constantly attacked by Russian sources of information.”