Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has slammed fake images of herself generated by artificial intelligence, calling deepfakes a "dangerous tool" that can target and harm anyone.
The far-right leader posted one of the fake AI-generated photos on her social media accounts on Tuesday.
She said the pictures, showing her in scanty underclothes, had been circulating in recent days.
"In these days, several fake photos of me are circulating, generated with artificial intelligence and passed off as real by some zealous opponent," Meloni wrote in a post on X.
Meloni also included a reply from a social media user who appeared to have been taken in by the photo, who wrote that the prime minister's appearance in such attire was "shameful and unworthy of the institutional role she holds."
"Check before you believe, and believe before you share. Because today it’s happening to me; tomorrow it could happen to anyone," she said.
Doctored sexualised images of the prime minister have surfaced before, particularly last year on a pornographic website that included altered images of high-profile women.
In response, the government passed a law that criminalised deepfakes that caused "unjust harm" to the person depicted.
In 2024, Meloni sued two men for €100,000 who produced fake videos of the premier which they then posted on a US pornographic website.
Female politicians around the world have increasingly become victims of such AI-generated deepfake pornography or sexualised images.
"Deepfakes are a dangerous tool, because they can deceive, manipulate and target anyone. I can defend myself. Many others cannot," Meloni said.
