Regulation of AI chatbots is ‘muddled and confused’, charity warns

File photo dated 21/08/14 of a child using a laptop computer. Schoolchildren in the UK are now using AI to generate indecent images of other children, internet safety groups have warned. The UK Safer Internet Centre (UKSIC) said it has begun receiving reports from schools that children are making, or attempting to make indecent images of other children using AI image generators. Issue date: Monday November 27, 2023. - (PA Archive)

Online safety regulator Ofcom has been accused of having a “muddled and confused” response to regulating the dangers of AI chatbots which could pose a “clear risk” to the public.

Andy Burrows, chief executive of online safety and suicide prevention charity, the Molly Rose Foundation, said too many AI chatbots were being rushed out by tech firms in a battle for market share in the new, but rapidly growing space of generative AI (Gen AI).