Bank of England warns of AI scams as deepfakes of Farage-Bailey fight spread

The Bank of England has warned the public against falling for AI-generated scams after deepfake videos of Nigel Farage fighting its governor spread online.Andrew Bailey, the head of the BoE, said AI-generated content related to central banks was spreading and urged people to be “vigilant”.He spoke out after the videos of the Reform UK leader and Bailey fighting on the set of BBC One’s Question Time appeared on the social media platform X.The videos showed the men being separated by police officers and even depict Farage holding a gun while he grapples with Bailey.A deepfake AI image of Nigel Farage fighting in the BBC One Question Time studio. Illustration: XBailey urged the public to report the videos so they could be taken down.“Unfortunately, fake adverts impersonating the Bank of England and other central banks are on the rise,” he said.“These scams are designed to criminally exploit the public, especially the vulnerable, when they are online. I would urge everyone to stay vigilant and report these scams. That way authorities can better root out digital deception like this and permanently remove the fraudsters responsible for what is a truly online scourge.”Farage commented on the AI posts on the X platform on Monday, stating that he would never attack Bailey despite disagreeing with his stance on the economy.“You may have seen some bizarre AI videos on this platform today,” Farage wrote. “Whilst Andrew Bailey and I have our disagreements, I would never take it that far!”A deepfake image of Nigel Farage fighting in the Question Time studio. Illustration: XThe Bank has raised concerns about the posts with Reform UK and with social media platforms, Bloomberg reported.Scams using AI to impersonate public figures have proliferated as the technology has become more and more capable, with AI video in particular becoming more proficient at depicting people realistically. Martin Lewis, the UK personal finance expert, has been a popular subject of fraudulent posts and has warned of a “wild west” of online scams powered by AI.The UK’s Online Safety Act contains provisions requiring tech platforms to tackle fraudulent advertising. However, those duties do not come into force until next year.X has been approached for comment. The platform, which is owned by Elon Musk, explicitly bars impersonation of individuals to “deceive others”.X’s sister company, xAI, was embroiled in controversy this year after its Grok tool was used by members of the public to declothe images of women and girls, an incident that is being investigated by the UK communications regulator, Ofcom.