Hong Kong needs ‘targeted law' to tackle AI deepfake porn: Bar Association chief
In an interview with the Post on Thursday, Senior Counsel Jose-Antonio Maurellet, chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association, also expressed confidence that such legislative efforts could be done 'very quickly' if the government had the will to tackle the issue.
The legal gaps in regulating the non-consensual creation of images generated by artificial intelligence came under scrutiny last month after a University of Hong Kong (HKU) law student was found to have used AI to generate pornographic images of his classmates and other women, but received only a warning from the institution.
Maurellet refrained from commenting directly on the case, but noted that while there was currently no particular legislation designed to penalise such actions, it would be undesirable to invoke existing legal tools tailored for other behaviours to deal with them.
'I think one should be very careful in not trying to use an instrument which was designed to catch another mischief for this purpose, because there could be all sorts of technical arguments advanced,' he said.
For instance, the city's data privacy laws cover people who try to hurt someone by disseminating information about that person to a large audience, but are not designed to regulate individuals who distribute AI images within a relatively small group or who do not seek or intend to harm others, according to the barrister.
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