The New Zealand government has placed a ban on AI-generated celebrity endorsements for online casinos – warning of deepfake scams.
New Zealand has introduced restrictions for online casino gambling sites, prohibiting them from using AI to generate deepfake endorsements of celebrities or influencers to lure in potential users.
Officials raised concerns after a bogus video of TVNZ’s Jenny-May Clarkson, endorsing a gambling app called Māori Game, coupled with an AI-generated Taika Waititi.
Endorsements and sponsorships are banned forms of advertising, regardless of licensing. AI-generated content, which does not involve a real human and payment for the endorsement, was a loophole not covered by the sponsorship ban until now.
Newstalk ZB gained access to a briefing with the minister of internal affairs, Brooke van Velden, in which officials gave advice on AI-generated content.
“These AI endorsements – including synthetic influencers, deepfakes, and other likeness-based representations – are increasingly used internationally and have already been observed in New Zealand, creating risks of consumer deception and contributing to gambling harm,” van Velden was told.
Officials argued that AI-generated ads, using people’s likeness, “can normalise gambling in ways similar to human endorsements”, but also comes with additional harms, including misuse of individuals’ identities.
Concerns were also raised over ‘synthetic influencers’, or AI generated ‘creators’ that look and behave like real people, but are made to convince users to trust products. Officials warned these are easily customisable and can present as anything from hyper-realistic personas to stylised cartoons or fantasy characters, which is particularly appealing to younger audiences.
The government also warned against ‘scambling’ – online gambling scams such as identify theft and credit card fraud on illegal sites, the New Zealand Herald reported.
This comes ahead of a regulated market coming into force in New Zealand, which will will see the government grant 15 licenses to legitimate online casino operators, enabling them to advertise and operate in the country.
Operators who do not get a licence through the new process will be banned from providing any online casino services and could face a NZ$5m.
As part of the new regulation, there will be stricter rules on gambling advertising.
