PNG Drafts New Laws to Address AI Misuse
ABC News
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Details
- Date Published
- 12 June 2024
- Priority Score
- 2
- Australian
- No
- Created
- 13 July 2026, 12:01 am
Description
Papua New Guinea has begun drafting new laws to protect people from the harmful misuse of AI, including deepfakes, voice cloning and digital impersonation. The proposed laws would include criminalising AI-generated sexual content, child exploitation material, and fraudulent voice cloning.
Summary
Papua New Guinea is developing legislative reforms to the Cybercrime Code Act to criminalize AI-driven harms including deepfakes, voice cloning, and synthetic non-consensual sexual content. These legal gaps currently hinder law enforcement's ability to respond to a surge in digital impersonation and exploitation cases across the Pacific region. While the focus is primarily on immediate societal harms rather than existential risks, the initiative represents a significant regional step in establishing governance frameworks for malicious frontier AI capabilities. This development aligns with broader efforts in Oceania to harmonize cyber safety standards and mitigate the risks posed by increasingly sophisticated generative AI tools.
Body
Papua New Guinea has begun drafting new laws to protect people from the harmful misuse of AI, including deepfakes, voice cloning and digital impersonation.Experts warning of increasingly sophisticated deepfake technology putting women and children across the Pacific at greater risk of abuse. The proposed laws would include criminalising AI-generated sexual content, child exploitation material, and fraudulent voice cloning.PNG's Assistant Commissioner of Police, Hodges Ette says police welcome the proposed changes to the Cybercrime Code Act, which will close existing gaps in the legislation. "In the last five years, there has been a serious increase, it's a daily complaint. Not only that a complaint has been lodged at the cybercrime unit, it is also lodged at police headquarters and also in the provinces and the police stations," said Mr Ette.Image DetailsPapua New Guinea flag(AAP: Mick Tsikas)Program:More from Pacific BeatPacific, Papua New Guinea, AI, AI Ethics, Laws Appears In Australia's foreign minister says China missile test proves need for a regional security agreement. Duration: 47 minutes 36 seconds47m 5itemsIn this episode1 of 5Dozens of families face eviction in Timor-Leste airport expansionDuration: 6 minutes 44 seconds6m 2 of 5PlayingPNG drafts new laws to address AI misuseDuration: 5 minutes 45 seconds5m 3 of 5Potter keen to have another go at the helm with Fiji BatiDuration: 4 minutes 54 seconds4m 54s4 of 5AI may facilitate preservation of pacific languages, says advocateDuration: 8 minutes 31 seconds8m 5 of 5Fijian cameraman nominated for an Emmy awardDuration: 8 minutes 16 seconds8m