Celebrity Deepfake Scam Ads Surge in 2024

Scammers are employing deepfake AI to doctor celebrity images in adverts that have already defrauded or exposed consumers to fraudulent schemes (financial harm). This is a direct misuse of AI systems causing real-world harm, fitting the definition of an AI Incident.

The piece summarizes new ASA data on deepfake scam ads, highlights the regulator’s alerting mechanism and platform responses, and discusses policy calls. It does not describe a single new harm-causing incident or a potential future hazard from a specific AI system, but rather offers contextual and follow-up information on an existing, ongoing issue and governance efforts.

The article describes the active use of generative AI (deepfake) technology by scammers to produce fake celebrity adverts that have successfully deceived consumers and promoted fraudulent schemes, resulting in real harm. This constitutes an AI Incident because the misuse of an AI system directly led to consumer fraud.

The event involves AI systems explicitly through the use of AI-powered deepfake technology to create fake celebrity images in scam advertisements. The harm is realized as these scams deceive consumers, potentially causing financial and reputational damage, which falls under harm to communities and individuals. The article details ongoing harm and the watchdog's efforts to mitigate it, confirming that the AI system's use has directly led to harm. Hence, this is classified as an AI Incident rather than a hazard or complementary information.

The use of AI deepfake technology to create fake adverts featuring celebrities constitutes an AI system generating deceptive content. The resulting scam ads cause harm by misleading and defrauding individuals, which is a form of harm to communities and individuals. Since the harm is occurring and the AI system's use is central to the scam ads, this qualifies as an AI Incident.

Scam adverts employing AI‐generated deepfakes of celebrities are actively appearing online and tricking consumers, representing a realized harm (financial and trust damage). The article details the Advertising Standards Authority’s actions to remove these ads, highlighting the AI system’s direct role in facilitating the scam. Therefore, this is an AI Incident.

The article explicitly mentions AI and deepfake ads as part of the scam advertisements spreading online, which have caused harm by defrauding users. The involvement of AI systems in generating deceptive content that leads to financial harm qualifies this as an AI Incident. The harm is realized (people losing money), and the AI system's use is a contributing factor. The article also discusses regulatory responses and platform actions, but the primary focus is on the harm caused by AI-enabled scam ads, not just on governance or complementary information. Hence, the classification is AI Incident.