The head of Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog has said there is no immediate need to amend the law to specifically target the creation of AI-generated deepfake pornography, stressing that existing legislation is sufficient to handle offences.
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In her most detailed comments following a recent high-profile case at the University of Hong Kong, Ada Chung Lai-ling said on Saturday that because the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance was “principle-based” and “technology-neutral”, it applied to the misuse of personal data in deepfake images.
“The Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance is still applicable … For now, we do not see a need to amend the law,” Chung said at a seminar at the Hong Kong News-Expo.
Chung, the privacy commissioner for personal data, said her office would handle complaints concerning AI-generated porn in the same way as any other case involving the collection or disclosure of data.
She also noted that other existing laws, such as criminal ordinances that prohibited the disclosure of obscene images, could apply.
Chung declined to comment on the specifics of the recent case, in which a male law student was found to have used artificial intelligence (AI) to create more than 700 pornographic deepfake images of female classmates and other people.
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