Amazon takes down AI-generated biographies of SNP politicians

Amazon has removed fake biographies of SNP current and former leaders over growing concern artificial intelligence (AI) could undermine next year's Holyrood elections. 

The online retail giant has pulled books, that appear to have been generated by AI, and give false information of the lives of John Swinney, Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf.

One book called ‘John Swinney: Scotland’s Education Architect’ by Brendy Beauty, alleges the first minister was born in the US state of Ohio to a Polish mother named ‘Kazimiera’. 

The book, which was published shortly after he took office last year, goes on to say Swinney moved to Fife at a young age, where he battled poverty to become a teacher in Tayside.

It claims to include “candid interviews and behind-the-scenes details” of the first minister’s life, adding it “reveals the political manoeuvrings and ideological battles that manifested Swinney’s goal of equity and excellence in education”.

This is all false, as he is originally from Edinburgh, his mother was called Agnes and while having previously been responsible for the education portfolio, he has never been a teacher.

Another book on Sturgeon claimed her family “placed a high cost on education, difficulty painting and public service” and that her “mom” became a “nearby press flesher”.

Swinney’s predecessor, Humza Yousaf was also targeted by the string of false publications, with one claiming he grew up in poverty and his father was called “Mohammed”.

In reality Yousaf went to private school, and his father is called Muzaffar.

Sam Stockwell, a research associate for the Centre for Emerging Technology and Security at The Alan Turing Institute , warned “AI-generated biographies could have a more persuasive effect” than other content created by the technology on next year’s election. 

He told The Times: “Since text also lacks more obvious cues compared to videos or images, which allow users to determine whether it is authentic or generated by AI, there is a risk that these AI-generated biographies could have a more persuasive effect on those who read them.”

The string of false biographies come after similar AI-generated content had an impact on Canada’s election earlier this year, where fake quotes allegedly from a biography written about Liberal leader Mark Carney went viral.

Stockwell added: “With Scottish elections looming next year, one of the main concerns here is that threat actors could seek to undermine the reputation of political candidates by uploading fake biographies, which include harmful, fabricated claims.

“Perhaps most worryingly, an absence of any labels or information indicating that these texts are AI-generated makes it more challenging for users to be aware of when they may be consuming such content.”

A spokesperson for Amazon claimed it had “pro-active” methods to remove books that breached its rules.

They said: “We have content guidelines governing which books can be listed for sale, and we have pro-active and reactive methods that help us detect content that violates our guidelines, whether AI-generated or not.

“We invest significant time and resources to ensure our guidelines are followed and remove books that do not adhere to those guidelines.”