Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy reissues call for major parties to sign up to Gen AI campaigning code of practice

Now is the time for all parties to send a powerful message of trust that they will not abuse generative AI in their election campaigns.

Last month, we signed an Open Letter from Demos calling on UK political parties to adopt a code of practice on the use of generative AI in campaigning.

This code of practice is clear and concise. It contains four commitments:

1) To not use generative AI tools to produce materially misleading content; that is content that may confuse citizens into believing something is real when it is not.

2) To clearly label if generative AI is used in a non-trivial way, for example, to claim that individuals had said something they did not, to change the location of a real event, or depict images that did not happen, including for the creation of satirical content, with the disclosure being located where it is likely to be noticed by the receiver.

3) To not amplify materially misleading synthetic content, including from third parties, and where appropriate and a significant risk, to be a responsible actor in calling this out in such a way that does not contribute toward further amplifying this content.

4) To ensure that party staff, members, campaigners and supporters are all given clear guidelines for the transparent use of generative AI and synthetic content in election campaigning. These guidelines will be made public.

Other signatories of the letter included FullFact, the Electoral Reform Society, the British Computer Society (BCS), Witness, and key figures including Martin Lewis, Founder and Chair of Money Saving Expert and Wikipedia Founder, Jimmy Wales.

With the calling of a general election by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak yesterday, we are reissuing our call to political leaders to sign up to this code.

Now is the time for political parties to send a powerful message that from the outset of their campaigns they will not abuse Generative AI, deepfakes, or other misleading content – all of which erode public trust and undermine democratic values.