Tightening responsibility for the dissemination of deepfakes created using artificial intelligence in the Russian Federation

The article examines the problems arising at the current stage of technological development in the country in light of the federal project "Artificial Intelligence," which is a state strategic priority. It investigates the issues encountered in law enforcement practices in the fight against the unlawful activities of offenders using IT tools, such as generative artificial intelligence (AI), to commit crimes, including the creation of deepfakes. These technologies are exploited by wrongdoers to deceive various companies and individual citizens, gain unauthorized access to their confidential data and finances, and engage in discreditation and blackmail. The emergence of the concept of "deepfake," which has gained widespread attention, is explored. Various interpretations of this concept are presented, with an emphasis on different aspects of this phenomenon. A brief analysis of statistics on offenses and crimes in the aforementioned area is provided, along with the position of state representatives on the issue under investigation and priority directions for legislative development in this field. The novelty of the research lies in revealing methods of unlawful use of AI and examining gaps in legislation in this area, indicating an emerging problem, as well as investigating the specifics and characteristics of the legal relations developing in the process of advancing IT tools for generative artificial intelligence. The fact that the overwhelming majority of Russian organizations lack a formalized policy regulating work with AI services is noted, which creates critical risks and transforms the mass, practically unmanageable, and unregulated engagement of employees of enterprises and organizations with public online services into a channel for leaking significant information and viral infections of IT infrastructure. Through this channel, fraudsters and representatives of hostile state intelligence agencies gain access to materials related to strategic planning, analytical reports, tables with closed data, fragments of source code, internal correspondence, various technical documentation, and personal data of citizens. Issues related to the use of AI for subversive activities by hostile states against Russia and the responsibility for its use are also addressed.