The United Kingdom’s 2023 government consultation on a proposed ban on disposable vapes was inundated with tens of thousands of automated responses designed to influence the outcome, according to recent research. Health policy experts revealed that approximately 76% of the submissions to the consultation were generated by AI bots, marking what is believed to be the first large-scale coordinated attempt to use artificial intelligence to disrupt a UK public health policy process.

The consultation, conducted by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) as part of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, sought public input on measures intended to curb vaping among young people, including a ban on the sale of disposable vaping products. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Bath found that 90,835 out of 118,756 total responses were identified as automated, with nearly all opposing the government’s proposed restrictions. The DHSC detected that the majority of these responses were duplicates submitted at a high frequency from a limited number of IP addresses.

Officials noted that this influx of bot-generated opposition was confined primarily to a single question within the consultation on “smoke-free regeneration.” The scale and nature of the interference were described by researchers as unprecedented in UK public health policymaking. Although the manipulation attempt was successfully identified, the experts cautioned that future AI-driven campaigns might become more sophisticated and harder to detect, potentially creating misleading impressions of public opinion.

The DHSC confirmed it excluded all but two of the automated submissions from consideration, and maintained that its existing safeguards effectively prevented the intrusion from altering the consultation’s outcome. The consultation contributed to the passage of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill under the Labour government, which took office in 2024, enacting the ban on businesses selling or supplying disposable vapes.

Public health advocates expressed concern about the implications of such interference. Caroline Cerny, deputy chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, emphasized the importance of protecting public health policymaking from manipulation, highlighting the tobacco industry’s history of undermining regulations. She called for heightened vigilance and safeguards as technological advancements like AI pose new challenges to the integrity of public consultations.

Similarly, Azzurra Moores, associate director for information ecosystems at the think tank Demos, described the bot activity as “pretty alarming,” underscoring the difficulties in balancing the exclusion of fake responses with ensuring genuine public participation. Moores noted that AI’s evolving capabilities make detection increasingly complex and stressed the need for improved screening and transparency to preserve trust in governmental decision-making processes.

The DHSC reiterated its commitment to maintaining robust protections against manipulation, stating that the consultation results helped guide significant steps toward creating a smoke-free generation while affirming the department’s preparedness to counter similar interference in future consultations.