AI bots flooded a government consultation with thousands of responses in an attempt to influence the UK ’s ban on disposable vapes , a new study has found.

More than three quarters of the responses to the government’s vapes and tobacco bill consultation in 2023 were generated by bots as part as a failed attempt to stop the legislation, according to the analysis published in the journal Tobacco Control on Tuesday.

Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) identified 90,835 of the 118,756 responses as fraudulent and excluded them from the consultation report, meaning the views submitted by the bots were not taken into account in final decision making.

AI bots were used to flood the government's consultation on the disposable vape ban, new research has found (Getty)

It is thought to be the first time AI has been used to coordinate an attempt to interfere a major health policy in the UK.…