DICT cautions against rise of deep fakes with 2025 elections

THE Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has warned of a possible increase in deep fakes and other artificial intelligence-generated fake videos, as the 2025 mid-term elections nears.

According to DICT Undersecretary Jeffrey Ian Dy, amid such threat, the stakeholders are asking lawmakers to craft a law that would address the concerns on the technology.

“Mas advanced lang ngayon ang cognitive warfare because they can mimic actual personalities. This is the use of fake news or disinformation in order to shape people’s opinion,” Dy said.

“There are news reporters na nag-endorse daw ng isang produkto gamit ang kanyang video, pati ang kanyang audio recording dinub sa video niya to make it look like that she is endorsing a particular product when in fact she did not,” he explained.

“We believe that especially with the upcoming elections, this particular threat might increase, and we might be unable to cope with the volume of the expected influx of requests to take down AI-generated false statements and false news,” Dy said.

“Na-obserbahan ko, wala pa tayong batas sa deep fakes, malapit na pong mag-eleksyon, dapat gumawa tayo ng batas tungkol dito para mapagbawalan o ma-regulate ang paggamit ng AI,” cybersecurity analyst Art Samaniego Jr. said during a house hearing.

The DICT had said that the victims of deepfakes can reach out to their agency and the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Council.

They can help them take down the online material.

Likewise, the experts asked the public to scrutinize the video and photos that they see online, especially those from suspicious accounts.