Most responses to smoking bill consultation ‘generated by AI bots’

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By Olivia Bowthorpe

More than three-quarters of responses to a UK government consultation on creating a smoke-free generation were created by artificial intelligence bots — with almost all opposing restrictions on vapes, a study has found.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) classified 77% of almost 120,000 responses to the consultation on tackling smoking and youth vaping as fradulently auto-generated by bots.

They were excluded from the government’s analysis for the 2023 consultation.

Researchers believe this is the first instance of large-scale, automated interference in a formal, public health consultation.

Dr Nason Maani, senior lecturer in inequalities and global health policy at the University of Edinburgh, told Doctors.net.uk: “Clinicians should be aware of the sheer scale and coordination of efforts in opposition to restrictions on vaping.”

He added: "This is a reminder that health discourse and debates can be subject to targeted distortion and the tools to do so are likely going to grow in complexity and potency as technology advances."