Hong Kong privacy watchdog joins 60 overseas authorities warning of AI-generated intimate images

2026-02-23 - 11:25

Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog has joined 60 other overseas authorities in warning against non-consensual AI-generated images depicting individuals, including children and other vulnerable groups. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data. File photo: Peter Lee/HKFP. Hong Kong’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) issued a joint statement on Monday, alongside dozens of other privacy and data protection authorities. The co-signatories included organisations from Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore and the United Kingdom. “While AI [artificial intelligence] can bring meaningful benefits for individuals and society, recent developments – particularly AI image and video generation integrated into widely accessible social media platforms – have enabled the creation of non-consensual intimate imagery, defamatory depictions, and other harmful content featuring real individuals,” the joint statement reads. “We are especially concerned about potential harms to children and other vulnerable groups, such as cyber-bullying and/or exploitation.” The co-signatories urged organisations developing or using AI systems to “implement robust safeguards to prevent the misuse of personal information and generation of non-consensual intimate imagery and other harmful materials, particularly where children are depicted.” Elon Musk’s Grok AI. File photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP. They should provide “effective and accessible mechanisms” for people to request the removal of AI-generated intimate or harmful images, the statement also said. The PCPD said last month that it had contacted Elon Musk’s xAI over its AI chatbot Grok, after netizens used it to create indecent content from photos or videos of real women and children. Hong Kong’s security minister Chris Tang said in September that the government was considering expanding the city’s sexual offences laws to cover AI-generated “deepfake” porn – months after a University of Hong Kong student was accused of using free AI tools to create indecent images of women, including his classmates and teachers, without their consent.