Khaberni - Egyptian businessman, Engineer Naguib Sawiris warned against the misuse and excessive use of artificial intelligence technologies in forgery and impersonation operations, demanding a prompt issuance of a law that criminalizes these practices.
Sawiris wrote on his official account on the "X" platform saying, "With increasing cases of forgery using artificial intelligence, I advise the swift enactment of a law that criminalizes misuse in forgery and impersonation."
Sawiris also explained in previous posts that he personally faces this type of violation, as sponsored advertisements and fake video clips on Facebook and other platforms that use his and his brother Nassef Sawiris' images are circulating, with their voices being precisely imitated using Deepfake artificial intelligence technologies, to promote fake services related to "income enhancement" and other dubious offers.
The businessman confirmed that he has already filed an official complaint to the internet investigation authorities regarding these fake accounts and pages, noting that legal proceedings are currently underway to confront this phenomenon.
This wasn’t the first time that Sawiris warned about digital forgery; in June 2020, he issued a similar warning after the emergence of a fake page bearing the name of the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development, which promoted fictitious financial aid worth 50 million Egyptian pounds for the peoples of Arab countries.
Sawiris' statements come at a time when Egypt and the world are experiencing a significant increase in deepfake crimes that exploit artificial intelligence to produce misleading or fraudulent content.
The Deepfake technology uses artificial intelligence to create very realistic videos or audio recordings using existing images and voice recordings of the targeted person. It has become easily available through free or inexpensive tools on the internet.
In Egypt, there is not yet a specific and independent law that explicitly criminalizes the misuse of artificial intelligence in forgery or impersonation, where related crimes are usually punished under scattered articles in the Penal Code for forgery, fraud, deception, misuse of communication means, and the Law on Combating Information Technology Crimes.
