Source: Radio New Zealand
An image of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister Nicola Willis was misleadingly animated using AI by a Facebook page recently. Screenshot / Facebook
New Zealand’s privacy commissioner’s office has signed on to a global joint statement voicing concerns about AI-generated images and calling on organisations to follow the law.
The statement – by multiple countries expresses – “concern about the potential harms from the misuse of AI content generation systems,” and says robust safeguards and regulations are needed.
“The creation of non-consensual intimate imagery can constitute a criminal offence in many jurisdictions,” the statement notes.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner is an independent Crown entity that regulates the Privacy Act 2020 and ensures agencies know privacy rules. It also helps individuals whose privacy has been breached.
Concerns about the use of images of real people manipulated by artificial intelligence have been growing, with AI “slop” purveyors on social media pushing out multiple fake images about New Zealand news stories, for example, and ACT MP Laura McClure introducing a bill to criminalise non-consensual sexually explicit deepfakes.
“The concerns about these technologies include the creation of non-consensual intimate imagery and potential harms to children and other vulnerable groups,” the privacy commissioner’s office said.
Generative AI “systems must be developed and used in accordance with applicable legal frameworks, including data protection and privacy rules,” the commissioner’s office said.
The joint statement was signed by more than 50 different agencies from the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France and elsewhere.
“While AI can bring meaningful benefits for individuals and society, recent developments – particularly AI image and video generation integrated into widely accessible social media platforms – have enabled the creation of non-consensual intimate imagery, defamatory depictions, and other harmful content featuring real individuals,” the joint statement said.
“We are especially concerned about potential harms to children and other vulnerable groups, such as cyber-bullying and/or exploitation.”
“We call on organisations to engage proactively with regulators, implement robust safeguards from the outset, and ensure that technological advancement does not come at the expense of privacy, dignity, safety,” the statement said.
The statement does not act to change any of New Zealand’s current laws, but may provide more pressure to bring them up to date as AI usage continues to rise.
University of Canterbury lecturer in law Dr Cassandra Mudgway has previously written on the need for more regulation over sexualised deepfakes.
“I think it goes along with what the office of the Privacy Commissioner has been trying to get out in relation to AI tools very generally,” she said. “In 2023 they released some guidance around AI tools and the use of AI tools by agencies.”
Privacy commissioner Michael Webster has also [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/579020/privacy-commissioner-insists-new-zealand-s-laws-need-modernising recently said the country’s laws must be modernised to better protect New Zealanders.
“The Privacy Commissioner is really only concerned with how AI tools relate … to the Privacy Act,” Mudgway said.
The Human Rights Tribunal can award compensatory damages for breaches of the Privacy Act, but the fines typically wouldn’t make a difference to huge social media and AI companies, Mudgway said.
“If New Zealand wants to engage in these kind of conversations then we really do need to think about wider regulation.”
A ban on “nudify” type apps such as was recently introduced by Australia could be an easy first step, she said.
There have been concerns raised about use of AI during this year’s election campaigns. Elsewhere, US President Donald Trump has taken to frequently posting AI-generated content on his social media feeds.
“I think that it’s a really positive move that there’s an international conversation about (AI) through different regulators … but in terms of making a positive change or a proactive change then that’s going to have to come from Parliament,” Mudgway said.
“It’s going to have to come from the government of the day and it’s going to be political will whether they listen to that movement.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
