Member of the Punjab Assembly Hina Parvez Butt spoke out on Monday against non-consensual videos of public figures made with help of artificial intelligence (AI).
Posting a video statement to her account on X, Butt said TikTok content creator Jannat Mirza had “highlighted a very important issue” by reacting publicly to an AI-generated video of herself.
Butt, who is the chairperson of the Punjab Women Protection Authority (PWPA), said AI was an important part of people’s lives nowadays, “But the misuse of technology should not become a means of harming anyone’s dignity, respect, or privacy.”
The legislator said content made using women’s pictures and faces without their consent was “extremely concerning”.
Butt said her PWPA was there to assist women whose pictures and videos had been used to make AI-generated content and asked authorities to act against such incidents.
“There should be no compromise on the dignity, respect, and protection of women,” she said.
In her video statement, the legislator shared screenshots of Mirza’s reaction to her AI-generated video. The content creator cautioned her followers, saying, “Today it may be my face being used, but tomorrow it could be any girl’s face and her dignity could be put at risk.”
Mirza said that, even though she had a very public presence on the internet, the video made her “extremely uncomfortable”. She said there were girls who weren’t on social media at all and their pictures could be used without them even finding out about it.
The content creator said AI was a powerful tool, “but using it to create inappropriate or misleading videos of people is not something that should be taken lightly”.
Incidents of AI-enabled image manipulation have been popping up recently, with an account on Instagram of popular Pakistani and foreign actors.
The account’s videos often showed a likeness of its owner with these celebrities, sometimes engaging in violence against them. One video in particular of the owner’s deepfake hitting one of Hania Aamir sparked calls for action.
Another in May also attracted celebrity attention. Addressing a video which called out a YouTube “drama analyst” for manipulating images of actors and using them as thumbnails for his videos, actors Romaisa Khan, Imran Abbas and Ushna Shah commended Rija Rafique, the Instagram content creator who made the reel, for raising an important issue.
In her video, she that such actions were crimes under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Act (Peca), 2025.
