Palace hits AI-generated ‘fake news’
MANILA, Philippines — Officials should not peddle “fake news” as it could erode public trust, Malacañang said, after Sen. Ronald dela Rosa and Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte shared a video that turned out to be created through artificial intelligence (AI) showing students defending Vice President Sara Duterte.
The AI-generated video showed students criticizing what they described as the “politically motivated” impeachment of the Vice President and decrying the alleged selective justice in the process.
Dela Rosa and Mayor Duterte shared the video on their social media accounts, drawing flak from social media users who noted that the students are not real persons.
“Disinformation, fake news should not come from officials of the government,” Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said at a press briefing yesterday.
“Doubts are raised and trust is eroded if ranking officials are the source of disinformation and fake news,” she added.
Castro said officials sharing false information or misleading AI-generated content can be penalized.
“If they comment on it, there is a penalty for it. It depends on their participation. It’s not just about sharing, but the giving of their opinion. So let’s see, let us look at the totality (of the situation),” she said.
Asked if the filing of libel or slander charges could be an option against such officials, Castro replied: “Can be, but as I said, let us determine its cause. It is difficult to conclude immediately that a person has a liability. What we are saying is they should be responsible in every action they make.”
Castro reiterated the need for all sectors to work together to combat disinformation.
On a comment from Dela Rosa that the statements made in the video were legitimate, the Palace press officer said something cannot be legitimized if it comes from fake news or an AI-generated source.
Officials who helped spread the video should acknowledge that the content they disseminated is not real, she added.
The Vice President was impeached by the House of Representatives last February over her supposed failure to properly account for the confidential funds allocated to her office and her threat to kill the President, First Lady Liza Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez, among other accusations.
A former close ally-turned-arch foe of the Marcos administration, Duterte has denied any wrongdoing.
The Vice President defended the sharing of the video by Dela Rosa and her brother. “There’s nothing wrong with sharing AI video in support of me as long it is not used for business. If I were a social media account owner and I will create an AI to support a certain personality, but not as business, there is nothing wrong with that,” she said.
At the same press briefing, Castro said the public would know who among the senator-judges in the impeachment trial of Duterte are biased and who are adhering to the rule of law. She said Malacañang is leaving it up to the senators to determine how they would act as judges of the impeachment court.
Meanwhile, the Vice President said more troll farms were targeting her after an OpenAI report accused a Makati-based agency of using ChatGPT to run a coordinated campaign to malign her.
Duterte was reacting to reports that she was being targeted by a troll farm, which OpenAI recently linked to Comm&Sense Inc., a PR firm founded by Jaeger Tanco.
“Actually, it is not only Tanco who is operating a program of anti-Duterte only. There are other companies we knew that are doing the same and we know that they are being paid,” Duterte added.
The TikTok and Facebook campaign dubbed “Covert IO: Operation High Five” promoted pro-Marcos and anti-Sara content during the campaign period.
“I have been saying that the threats and harassment (against me) are intended to disqualify me from the 2028 elections,” she said.
Duterte noted that the report did not even come from the Dutertes. “The move to discredit (me) did not even come from us. It came from the universe just to show to the people this administration is only involved in politicking, no work,” Duterte added.
She stressed she has no plan of filing charges against Tanco’s group.
“I won’t (file a case) as the AI already exposed (the company). Where is your credibility as a service provider so there is no point in filing a case,” she said. - Diana Lyhd Suelto
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