Policymakers in government have indicated they are contemplating ways to regulate abuse of artificial intelligence (AI) amid growing social concerns and worries among experts about its use for deepfakes, bullying and abuses even focusing on children.
Officials of law enforcement agencies said AI was also being used with mischievous political motives as vested quarters at home and abroad were engaged in disseminating false and fabricated news, views, and photographs to promote the now disbanded Awami League.
"We fear the phenomenon could affect the country's political stability and sovereign security," said a security official entrusted with the task of monitoring AI abuse.
Detectives claimed to have identified groups of "cyber squads", dubbed by critics as "bot bahini", who were relentlessly carrying out misleading campaigns to create instability in support of the disbanded political party.
"They are assassinating the character of politicians, academics, professionals and artistes by spreading AI-generated rumours and disinformation on social media," one detective serving in a security agency said.
AI tools are software applications that automate tasks of writing content, generating images and analyzing data to improve daily productivity and speed up work in every sector throughout the world.
But the AI abuse prompted enterprises like Anthropic to work to build reliable, interpretable and steerable AI systems while in a recent report the company said the rapidly advancing artificial intelligence could pose an existential threat to humanity.
It feared AI could even be used to eliminate the entire human race, while Google DeepMind echoed the identical concern, which was also reported by the BBC.
Earlier this month, OpenAI Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki called for extreme caution over the rapid advancement of AI, warning that further intervention might be needed to ensure its future remained under human control.
In an open letter, at least 1,300 key employees of AI companies have recently urged the US government to support an international effort for technical and governance measures to limit the pace of the automated development of artificial intelligence tools.
In recent months in Bangladesh, government policymakers and experts at an event emphasised the need to prevent disorder caused by fake, fabricated and politically motivated AI-generated content from disrupting social harmony and political stability in the country.
Acknowledging the AI-caused danger, they underscored the urgency of strong enforcement of the proposed Cyber Security (Amendment) Act, 2026.
Addressing a programme in Dhaka on Wednesday, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said the country is now witnessing a "rapid evolution of crimes" in digital and cyber spheres.
The scenario, he said, prompted the government to plan to establish modern cyber security units and laboratories at the Police Headquarters, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and police's range headquarters.
Earlier, Ahmed said in an event titled "Global Fraud Summit" in Vienna on March 17 that the Cyber Security Act was necessary to maintain social balance by reining in the spate of fake AI-generated content.
He said Bangladesh was strengthening AI-driven crime detection and enforcement as the government adopted a zero-tolerance policy against terrorism, drugs, human trafficking, corruption and financial fraud.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Andaleeve Rahman recently said the government is committed to upholding freedom of expression and an environment conducive to a free media as the US ambassador in Dhaka Brent T Christensen met him.
He said necessary measures would be taken to curb the spread of defamatory statements, misinformation, and disinformation across various platforms, including social media.
Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed, on the other hand, said that in many countries, 44 percent of crimes are now committed in cyberspace and Bangladesh too is not safe from the menace and there was no alternative to a time-befitting law to prevent online fraud, sextortion, blackmailing women and disruption in social and religious orders.
Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) Managing Director and Chief Editor Muhammed Kader Gani Chowdhury recently told an open discussion that indecency on social media and online harassment of women, children and prominent individuals using fake IDs could in no way be considered freedom of expression.
"If such activities are encouraged, social vulgarism will increase and civilisation will be disgraced," he said.
At the same time, Chowdhury emphasized the cautious application of the regulation, saying that the law should also clearly provide for accountability if any government agency violates the cyber rights of citizens.