𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Online lies spread using Artificial Intelligence are causing havoc in conflict zones and resulting in deaths, the Freedom Association has warned. Fake reports of atrocities in countries including Sudan shatter trust and stop people making donations with dire consequences for those in genuine need of help, according to chairman David Campbell Bannerman.

He wants AI misinformation treated as an “urgent international danger”, warning of the threat to democracy.

He said: “Democracies depend on shared facts, accountable institutions, and citizens who can tell truth from manipulation. If AI bots can impersonate real people, dictate narratives, and drown out authentic voices, public debate becomes impossible. Without honest debate, free societies cannot function.”

In the conflict in Sudan, he said: “AI has been weaponised to spread fabricated images, videos, and crisis reports. Deepfakes have portrayed atrocities that never happened and these have since gone viral – on many occasions, drowning out the brutal reality of what is actually happening on the ground.”

He added: “The problem is, by the time the truth comes out, the damage has already been done. If enough content is fake, people begin to doubt everything, including what is real, and that doubt is costing lives.

“Humanitarian organisations rely on clarity, and credible reporting to raise funds and deliver aid. AI lies and misinformation has shattered that trust which results in donors hesitating, crisis maps are misleading responders and legitimate appeals for help are dismissed as scams because people have seen too many fakes.

“As a result, less aid is delivered, there are fewer resources, and suffering that should have been alleviated has worsened.”

Mr Campbell Bannerman insists AI manipulation is a “very real threat to freedom”.

He said: “The flood of AI-generated misinformation – deepfakes, synthetic images and videos, and countless swarms of automated bot accounts – must be treated as an urgent international danger. We must not allow fabricated suffering to distort real crises, nor let real suffering be dismissed simply as fiction.

“The world cannot look away from Sudan and it cannot afford a future where truth is optional.”

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper acknowledged the scale of the threat in a speech on Tuesday, saying “disinformation does not begin to capture the industrial scale approach from some malign actors today”. She warned that last year “evidence suggests that automated online traffic surpassed human activity for the first time, with some evidence of malicious bots accounting for more than a third of all messages”.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper acknowledged the scale of the threat in a speech on Tuesday, saying “disinformation does not begin to capture the industrial scale approach from some malign actors today”. She warned that last year “evidence suggests that automated online traffic surpassed human activity for the first time, with some evidence of malicious bots accounting for more than a third of all messages”.

The Foreign Office is providing support to strengthen journalism in Sudan in an effort to “reduce the impact of harmful narratives that are fuelling the horrific atrocities in Sudan”.