Police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga says AI, deepfakes causing panic over missing children
National Police Service spokesperson Michael Nyaga Muchiri is on the receiving end of netizens' anger after he dismissed reports of a surge in missing children cases in the country.
Nyaga instead linked the growing concern to recycled content, manipulated clips, AI-generated material and misleading posts on social media.
Speaking during a television interview, he said the country was not experiencing a sharp increase in child disappearances, arguing instead that heightened public awareness and faster information sharing online were driving the perception of a crisis.
“We really don’t have a surge. It’s only that we have a public that is much more conscious, more aware and the spread of information is much faster. Something else we have noticed during our analysis is the intrusion of AI and fakes. Some of the clips we have seen in recent times contribute to the perception that there is a surge or an emergency. That is not the case. The best approach is calmness and reliance on facts,” he said.
