WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation Tuesday that would ban political campaigns and outside political groups from using artificial intelligence to misrepresent their views by posing as rivals.
The introduction of this bill meeting Without the ability to regulate the rapidly evolving technology, experts have warned it could overwhelm voters with misinformation. They have expressed particular concern about the dangers posed by “deepfakes” – AI-generated videos and memes that look so lifelike they could leave voters questioning what is real and what is fake.
Lawmakers said the bill Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission has the power to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in elections in the same way that it has regulated other political misrepresentations for decades. have begun to consider such regulations..
“Right now, the Federal Election Commission doesn’t have the authority, the regulatory authority, to protect our elections,” said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pennsylvania, a co-sponsor of the bill. Other sponsors include Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., and Lori Chavez DeRemer, R-Ore.
Fitzpatrick and Schiff said the bill is unlikely to pass this year, but they said they don’t expect the bill to face much opposition and that it could be added to a list of must-pass bills toward the end of the legislative session.
Schiff described the bill as a modest first step to address the threat posed by deepfakes and other false AI-generated content, and argued that the bill’s simplicity is an advantage.
“This is probably the most low-hanging fruit in combating the misuse of AI in politics,” Schiff said, “but there’s still a lot of work to be done to combat the massive amount of misinformation and disinformation.”
Congress has been paralyzed by countless issues in recent years, and regulating AI is no exception.
“This is another example of Congressional dysfunction,” Schiff said.
Schiff and Fitzpatrick are not the only ones who believe artificial intelligence legislation is needed and can be enacted. Representatives Madeleine Dean, Democrat of Pennsylvania, and Maria Elvira Salazar, Republican of Florida, also believe that artificial intelligence legislation is needed and can be enacted. The bill was introduced earlier this month. The bill aims to curb the spread of unauthorized deepfakes created by AI. A bipartisan group of senators has proposed a companion bill in the Senate.
Opposition to these bills has focused primarily on not stifling the burgeoning tech sector or making it easier for other countries to become hubs of the AI industry.
Congress “does not want to put roadblocks on innovation and prevent innovation from thriving under the right circumstances,” Rep. French Hill, R-Arkansas, said at a reception hosted by the Center for AI Safety in August. “This is a balancing act.”
The Federal Election Commission took the first step toward regulation in August. AI-generated deepfakes A procedural vote was held on a call to restrict ads that use artificial intelligence to misrepresent political opponents as saying things they did not or could not say.
The commission fee is Discuss this issue further On Thursday.
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The Electoral Commission’s efforts come at the request of Public Citizen, a progressive consumer rights group, which has asked the Electoral Commission to clarify whether 1970s-era laws banning “fraudulent misrepresentation” in campaign communications apply to AI-generated deepfakes. The Electoral Commission has been criticized in recent years for its incompetence, but it does have the power to take action, including by issuing fines, against campaigns and groups that violate those laws.
Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen who helped lawmakers draft the bill to be introduced Tuesday, said he was concerned that the fraudulent misrepresentation law would only apply to candidates, not political parties, outside groups or super PACs.
The bill introduced Tuesday would expand the FEC’s jurisdiction to explicitly take into account the rapid growth in the use of generative AI in political communications.
Holman noted that while some states have passed laws regulating deepfakes, federal law is needed to give clear authority to the Federal Election Commission.
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This story is part of “The AI Campaign,” an Associated Press series exploring the impact of artificial intelligence in the 2024 election cycle.
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