Short answer: AI has gone too far when it’s deployed in high-stakes decisions, surveillance, or persuasion without firm limits, informed consent, and a genuine right to appeal. It crosses the line again when deepfakes and scalable scams make trust feel like a gamble. If people can’t tell AI played a role, can’t grasp why a decision landed the way it did, or can’t opt out, it’s already too far.
Key takeaways:
Boundaries: Define what the system cannot do, especially when uncertainty is high.
Accountability: Ensure humans can override outcomes without penalty or time-pressure traps.
Transparency: Tell people when AI is involved and why it reached its decisions.
Contestability: Provide fast, workable appeal routes and clear ways to correct bad data.
Misuse resistance: Add provenance, rate limits, and controls to curb scams and abuse.
“Has AI gone too far?”
The peculiar part is that the line-crossing is not always obvious. Sometimes it’s loud and flashy, like a deepfake scam. (FTC, FBI) Other times it’s quiet - an automated decision that nudges your life sideways with zero explanation, and you don’t even realize you were “scored.” (UK ICO, GDPR Art. 22)
So… Has AI gone too far? In some places, yes. In other places, it hasn’t gone far enough - because it’s being used without the unsexy-but-essential safety rails that make tools behave like tools instead of roulette wheels with a friendly UI. 🎰🙂 (NIST AI RMF 1.0, EU AI Act)
Articles you may like to read after this one:
🔗 Why AI can be harmful for society
Key social risks: bias, jobs, privacy, and power concentration.
🔗 Is AI bad for the environment? Hidden impacts
How training, data centers, and energy use raise emissions.
🔗 Is AI good or bad? Pros and cons
Balanced overview of benefits, risks, and real-world tradeoffs.
🔗 Why AI is considered bad: the dark side
Explores misuse, manipulation, security threats, and ethical concerns.
What people mean when they say “Has AI gone too far?” 😬
Most people aren’t asking whether AI is “sentient” or “taking over.” They’re pointing at one of these:
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AI is being used where it shouldn’t be used. (High-stakes decisions, especially.) (EU AI Act Annex III, GDPR Art. 22)
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AI is being used without consent. (Your data, your voice, your face… surprise.) (UK ICO, GDPR Art. 5)
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AI is getting too good at manipulating attention. (Feeds + personalization + automation = sticky.) (OECD AI Principles)
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AI is making truth feel optional. (Deepfakes, fake reviews, synthetic “experts.”) (European Commission, FTC, C2PA)
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AI is concentrating power. (A few systems shaping what everyone sees and can do.) (UK CMA)
That’s the heart of “Has AI gone too far?” It’s not one single moment. It’s a pile-up of incentives, shortcuts, and “we’ll fix it later” thinking - which, let’s be frank, tends to translate into “we’ll fix it after someone gets hurt.” 😑
The not-so-secret truth: AI is a multiplier, not a moral actor 🔧✨
AI doesn’t wake up and decide to be harmful. People and organizations aim it. But it multiplies whatever you feed it:
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Helpful intent becomes massively helpful (translation, accessibility, summarization, medical pattern spotting).
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Sloppy intent becomes massively sloppy (bias at scale, automation of errors).
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Bad intent becomes massively bad (fraud, harassment, propaganda, impersonation).
It’s like giving a megaphone to a toddler. Sometimes the toddler sings… sometimes the toddler screams directly into your soul. Not a perfect metaphor - a bit silly - but the point lands 😅📢.
What makes a good version of AI in day-to-day settings? ✅🤝
A “good version” of AI isn’t defined by how smart it is. It’s defined by how well it behaves under pressure, uncertainty, and temptation (and humans are very tempted by cheap automation). (NIST AI RMF 1.0, OECD)
Here’s what I look for when someone claims their AI use is responsible:
1) Clear boundaries
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What is the system allowed to do?
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What is it explicitly forbidden to do?
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What happens when it’s unsure?
2) Human accountability that’s real, not decorative
A human “reviewing” outcomes only matters if:
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they understand what they’re reviewing, and
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they can override it without being punished for slowing things down.
3) Explainability at the right level
Not everyone needs the math. People do need:
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the main reasons behind a decision,
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what data was used,
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how to appeal, correct, or opt out. (UK ICO)
4) Measurable performance - including failure modes
Not just “accuracy,” but:
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who it fails on,
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how often it fails silently,
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what happens when the world changes. (NIST AI RMF 1.0)
5) Privacy and consent that aren’t “buried in settings”
If consent requires a treasure hunt through menus… it’s not consent. It’s a loophole with extra steps 😐🧾. (GDPR Art. 5, UK ICO)
Comparison table: practical ways to stop AI from going too far 🧰📊
Below are “top options” in the sense that they’re common guardrails or operational tools that change outcomes (not just vibes).
| Tool / option | Audience | Price | Why it works |
|---|---|---|---|
| Human-in-the-loop review (EU AI Act) | Teams making high-stakes calls | ££ (time cost) | Slows down bad automation. Also, humans can notice odd edge-cases, sometimes… |
| Decision appeal process (GDPR Art. 22) | Users impacted by AI decisions | Free-ish | Adds due process. People can correct wrong data - sounds basic because it is basic |
| Audit logs + traceability (NIST SP 800-53) | Compliance, ops, security | £-££ | Lets you answer “what happened?” after a failure, instead of shrugging |
| Model evaluation + bias testing (NIST AI RMF 1.0) | Product + risk teams | varies a lot | Catches predictable harm early. Not perfect, but better than guessing |
| Red-team testing (NIST GenAI Profile) | Security + safety folks | £££ | Simulates misuse before real attackers do. Unpleasant, but worth it 😬 |
| Data minimization (UK ICO) | Everyone, frankly | £ | Less data = less mess. Also fewer breaches, fewer awkward conversations |
| Content provenance signals (C2PA) | Platforms, media, users | £-££ | Helps verify “did a human make this?” - not foolproof but reduces chaos |
| Rate limits + access controls (OWASP) | AI providers + enterprises | £ | Stops abuse from scaling instantly. Like a speed bump for bad actors |
Yep, the table is a little uneven. That’s life. 🙂
AI in high-stakes decisions: when it goes too far 🏥🏦⚖️
This is where things get serious fast.
AI in healthcare, finance, housing, employment, education, immigration, criminal justice - these are systems where: (EU AI Act Annex III, FDA)
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an error can cost someone money, freedom, dignity, or safety,
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and the affected person often has limited power to fight back.
The big risk is not “AI makes mistakes.” The big risk is AI mistakes become policy. (NIST AI RMF 1.0)
What “too far” looks like here
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Automated decisions with no explanation: “computer says no.” (UK ICO)
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“Risk scores” treated like facts instead of guesses.
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Humans who can’t override outcomes because management wants speed.
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Data that’s untidy, biased, outdated, or just flat-out wrong.
What should be non-negotiable
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Right to appeal (fast, understandable, not a maze). (GDPR Art. 22, UK ICO)
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Right to know that AI was involved. (European Commission)
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Human review for consequential outcomes. (NIST AI RMF 1.0)
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Quality control on data - because garbage in, garbage out is still painfully true.
If you’re trying to draw a clean line, here’s one:
If an AI system can materially change someone’s life, it needs the same seriousness we expect from other forms of authority. No “beta testing” on people who didn’t sign up. 🚫
Deepfakes, scams, and the slow death of “I trust my eyes” 👀🧨
This is the part that makes everyday life feel… slippery.
When AI can generate:
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a voice message that sounds like your family member, (FTC, FBI)
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a video of a public figure “saying” something,
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a flood of fake reviews that look authentic enough, (FTC)
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a fake LinkedIn profile with a fake job history and fake friends…
…it doesn’t just enable scams. It weakens the social glue that lets strangers coordinate. And society runs on strangers coordinating. 😵💫
“Too far” isn’t just the fake content
It’s the asymmetry:
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It’s cheap to generate lies.
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It’s expensive and slow to verify truth.
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And most people are busy, tired, and scrolling.
What helps (a bit)
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Provenance markers for media. (C2PA)
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Friction for virality - slowing down instant mass-sharing.
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Better identity verification where it matters (finance, government services).
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Basic “verify out of band” habits for individuals (call back, use a code word, confirm via another channel). (FTC)
Not glamorous. But neither are seatbelts, and I’m pretty attached to those, personally. 🚗
Surveillance creep: when AI quietly turns everything into a sensor 📷🫥
This one doesn’t explode like a deepfake. It just spreads.
AI makes it easy to:
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track movement patterns,
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infer emotions from video (often poorly, but confidently), (Barrett et al., 2019, EU AI Act)
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predict “risk” based on behavior… or the vibe of your neighborhood.
And even when it’s inaccurate, it can still be harmful because it can justify intervention. A wrong prediction can still trigger real consequences.
The uncomfortable bit
AI-powered surveillance often arrives wrapped in a safety story:
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“It’s for fraud prevention.”
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“It’s for security.”
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“It’s for user experience.”
Sometimes that’s true. Sometimes it’s also a convenient excuse for building systems that are very hard to dismantle later. Like installing a one-way door in your own house because it seemed efficient at the time. Again, not a perfect metaphor - kind of ridiculous - but you feel it. 🚪😅
What “good” looks like here
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Strict limits on retention and sharing.
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Clear opt-outs.
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Narrow use cases.
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Independent oversight.
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No “emotion detection” used for punishment or gatekeeping. Please. 🙃 (EU AI Act)
Work, creativity, and the quiet deskilling problem 🧑💻🎨
This is where the debate gets personal because it touches identity.
AI can make people more productive. It can also make people feel replaceable. Both can be true, at the same time, in the same week. (OECD, WEF)
Where it’s genuinely helpful
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Drafting routine text so humans can focus on thinking.
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Coding assistance for repetitive patterns.
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Accessibility tools (captioning, summarizing, translation).
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Brainstorming when you’re stuck.
Where it goes too far
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Replacing roles without transition plans.
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Using AI to squeeze output while flattening wages.
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Treating creative work like infinite free training data, then shrugging. (U.S. Copyright Office, UK GOV.UK)
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Making junior roles disappear - which sounds efficient until you realize you just burned the ladder future experts need to climb.
Deskilling is subtle. You don’t notice it day to day. Then one day you realize nobody on the team remembers how the thing works without the assistant. And if the assistant is wrong, you’re all just confidently wrong together… which is kind of a nightmare. 😬
Power concentration: who gets to set the defaults? 🏢⚡
Even if AI is “neutral” (it’s not), whoever controls it can shape:
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what information is easy to access,
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what gets promoted or buried,
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what language is allowed,
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what behaviors are encouraged.
And because AI systems can be expensive to build and run, power tends to concentrate. That’s not conspiracy. That’s economics with a tech hoodie. (UK CMA)
The “too far” moment here
When the defaults become invisible law:
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you don’t know what’s being filtered,
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you can’t inspect the logic,
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and you can’t realistically opt out without losing access to work, community, or basic services.
A healthy ecosystem needs competition, transparency, and real user choice. Otherwise you’re basically renting reality. 😵♂️
A practical checklist: how to tell if AI is going too far in your world 🧾🔍
Here’s a gut-check list I use (and yes, it’s imperfect):
If you’re an individual
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I can tell when I’m interacting with AI. (European Commission)
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This system pushes me to overshare.
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I’d be okay dealing with the output if it’s wrong in a believable way.
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If I got scammed using this, the platform would help me… or it would shrug.
If you’re a business or team
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We’re using AI because it’s valuable, or because it’s trendy and management is restless.
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We know what data the system touches.
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An affected user can appeal outcomes. (UK ICO)
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Humans are empowered to override the model.
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We have incident response plans for AI failures.
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We’re monitoring for drift, misuse, and unusual edge cases.
If you answered “no” to a bunch of these, that doesn’t mean you’re evil. It means you’re in the normal human state of “we shipped it and hoped.” But hoping is not a strategy, sadly. 😅
Closing notes 🧠✅
So… Has AI gone too far?
It has gone too far where it’s deployed without accountability, especially in high-stakes decisions, mass persuasion, and surveillance. It has also gone too far where it erodes trust - because once trust breaks, everything gets more expensive and more hostile, socially speaking. (NIST AI RMF 1.0, EU AI Act)
But AI isn’t inherently doomed or inherently perfect. It’s a powerful multiplier. The question is whether we build the guardrails as aggressively as we build the capabilities.
Quick recap:
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AI is fine as a tool.
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It’s dangerous as an unaccountable authority.
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If someone can’t appeal, understand, or opt out - that’s where “too far” starts. 🚦 (GDPR Art. 22, UK ICO)
FAQ
Has AI gone too far in everyday life?
In many places, AI has gone too far because it has started slipping into decisions and interactions without clear boundaries or accountability. The problem is rarely “AI existing”; it’s AI being quietly stitched into hiring, healthcare, customer service, and feeds with thin oversight. When people can’t tell it’s AI, can’t contest outcomes, or can’t opt out, it stops feeling like a tool and starts feeling like a system.
What does “AI going too far” look like in high-stakes decisions?
It looks like AI being used in healthcare, finance, housing, employment, education, immigration, or criminal justice without strong guardrails. The central issue is not that models make mistakes; it’s that those mistakes harden into policy and become hard to challenge. “Computer says no” decisions with thin explanations and no meaningful appeals are where harm scales quickly.
How can I tell if an automated decision is affecting me, and what can I do?
A common sign is a sudden outcome you can’t account for: a rejection, restriction, or a “risk score” vibe with no clear reason. Many systems should disclose when AI played a material role, and you should be able to request the main reasons behind the decision and the steps to appeal it. In practice, ask for a human review, correct any wrong data, and push for a straightforward opt-out path.
Has AI gone too far with privacy, consent, and data use?
It often has when consent becomes a scavenger hunt and data collection expands “just in case.” The article’s core point is that privacy and consent don’t hold much weight if they’re buried in settings or forced through vague terms. A healthier approach is data minimization: collect less, keep less, and make choices unmistakable so people aren’t surprised later.
How do deepfakes and AI scams change what “trust” means online?
They make truth feel optional by lowering the cost of producing convincing fake voices, videos, reviews, and identities. The asymmetry is the problem: generating lies is cheap, while verifying truth is slow and tiring. Practical defenses include provenance signals for media, slowing down viral sharing, stronger identity checks where it matters, and “verify out of band” habits like calling back or using a shared code word.
What are the most practical guardrails to stop AI from going too far?
Guardrails that change outcomes include genuine human-in-the-loop review for high-stakes calls, clear appeal processes, and audit logs that can answer “what happened?” after failures. Model evaluation and bias testing can catch predictable harms earlier, while red-team testing simulates misuse before attackers do. Rate limits and access controls help prevent abuse from scaling instantly, and data minimization lowers risk across the board.
When does AI-driven surveillance cross the line?
It crosses the line when everything turns into a sensor by default: face recognition in crowds, movement-pattern tracking, or confident “emotion detection” used for punishment or gatekeeping. Even inaccurate systems can cause serious harm if they justify interventions or the denial of services. Good practice looks like narrow use cases, strict retention limits, meaningful opt-outs, independent oversight, and a firm “no” to shaky emotion-based judgments.
Is AI making people more productive - or quietly deskilling work?
Both can be true at the same time, and that tension is the point. AI can help with routine drafting, repetitive coding patterns, and accessibility, freeing humans to focus on higher-level thinking. It goes too far when it replaces roles without transition plans, squeezes wages, treats creative work like free training data, or removes junior roles that build future expertise. Deskilling stays subtle until teams can’t function without the assistant.
References
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National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) - AI Risk Management Framework (AI RMF 1.0) - nist.gov
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European Union - EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) - Official Journal (English) - europa.eu
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European Commission - Regulatory framework for AI (EU AI Act policy page) - europa.eu
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EU AI Act Service Desk - Annex III (High-risk AI systems) - europa.eu
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European Union - Rules for trustworthy artificial intelligence in the EU (EU AI Act summary) - europa.eu
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UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) - What is automated individual decision-making and profiling? - ico.org.uk
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UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) - What does the UK GDPR say about automated decision-making and profiling? - ico.org.uk
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UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) - Automated decision-making and profiling (guidance hub) - ico.org.uk
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UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) - Data minimisation (UK GDPR principles guidance) - ico.org.uk
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GDPR-info.eu - Article 22 GDPR - gdpr-info.eu
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GDPR-info.eu - Article 5 GDPR - gdpr-info.eu
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U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) - Scammers use AI to enhance their family emergency schemes - ftc.gov
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U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) - Scammers use fake emergencies to steal your money - ftc.gov
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U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) - Final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials (press release) - ftc.gov
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Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) - FBI warns of increasing threat of cyber criminals utilising artificial intelligence - fbi.gov
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Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) - OECD AI Principles - oecd.ai
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OECD - Recommendation of the Council on Artificial Intelligence (OECD/LEGAL/0449) - oecd.org
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European Commission - Guidelines and code of practice for transparent AI systems (FAQs) - europa.eu
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Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) - Specifications v2.3 - c2pa.org
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UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) - AI foundation models: initial report - gov.uk
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U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Medical Devices - fda.gov
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NIST - Security and Privacy Controls for Information Systems and Organisations (SP 800-53 Rev. 5) - nist.gov
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NIST - Generative AI Profile (NIST.AI.600-1, ipd) - nist.gov
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Open Worldwide Application Security Project (OWASP) - Unrestricted Resource Consumption (API Security Top 10, 2023) - owasp.org
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NIST - Face Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT) Demographics - nist.gov
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Barrett et al. (2019) - Article (PMC) - nih.gov
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OECD - Using AI in the workplace (PDF) - oecd.org
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World Economic Forum (WEF) - The Future of Jobs Report 2025 - Digest - weforum.org
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U.S. Copyright Office - Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, Part 3: Generative AI Training Report (Pre-Publication Version) (PDF) - copyright.gov
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UK Government (GOV.UK) - Copyright and artificial intelligence (consultation) - gov.uk