WASHINGTON (AP) – A bipartisan group of lawmakers plans to introduce legislation Tuesday that would ban political campaigns and outside political groups from using artificial intelligence to misrepresent the views of their rivals.
The law comes as Congress has failed to regulate the rapidly evolving technology, and experts warn it risks inundating voters with misinformation. These experts have expressed particular concern about the dangers posed by “deepfakes,” AI-generated videos and memes that can look real and make voters question what’s real and what’s fake.
Lawmakers said the bill would give the Federal Election Commission the authority to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in elections in the same way it has regulated other forms of political manipulation for decades. The FEC has begun to consider such regulations.
“Right now, the FEC has no teeth, no regulatory authority, to protect elections,” said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican who supports the legislation. Other sponsors include Representative Adam Schiff, Democrat of California; Rep. Derek Kilmer, Democrat of Washington; and Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Oregon Republican.
Fitzpatrick and Schiff said the odds were against the bill this year. Even so, they said they don’t expect the measure to face much opposition and could be attached to a mandatory measure in the waning days of the congressional session.
Schiff described the bill as a modest first step in addressing the threat posed by deep fakes and other false AI-generated content, and argued that the legislation’s simplicity was an advantage.
“This is really probably the lowest hanging fruit” when it comes to misuse of AI in politics, Schiff said. “However, we need to do so much more to try to attack the avalanche of misinformation and disinformation.”
Congress has been paralyzed by countless issues in recent years, and AI regulation is no exception.
“This is another example of congressional dysfunction,” Schiff said.
Schiff and Fitzpatrick are not alone in their belief that AI legislation is needed and could become law. Pennsylvania Democrat Madeleine Dean and Florida Republican María Elvira Salazar introduced legislation earlier this month aimed at curbing the spread of unauthorized AI-generated deep fakes. A bipartisan group of senators proposed the legislation in the Senate.
The opposition to this kind of legislation has primarily focused on not suppressing the emerging technology sector or making it easier for another country to become the center of the artificial intelligence industry.
Congress also “doesn’t want to stonewall innovation and allow it to flourish under the right conditions,” Rep. French Hill, Republican of Arkansas, said in August at a reception hosted by the Center for AI Safety. “It’s a balancing act.”
In August, the Federal Election Commission took the first step toward regulating artificial intelligence-generated deep fakes in political advertising, voting on the procedure after being asked to regulate ads that use artificial intelligence to misrepresent political opponents as saying or doing something they did not.
The committee is expected to discuss the matter further on Thursday.
The commission’s efforts followed a request by the progressive consumer advocacy group Public Citizen that the agency investigate whether a 1970s law banning “deceptive misrepresentation” in campaign communications also applies to deep fakes created by artificial intelligence. Although the Electoral Commission has been criticized in recent years for being ineffective, it has the ability to take action against campaigns or groups that violate these laws, often through fines.
Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen, who helped lawmakers draft the bill to be introduced Tuesday, said he is concerned that the fraudulent misrepresentation law only applies to candidates, not parties, outside groups and super PACs.
The bill proposed by Schiff and Fitzpatrick would expand the FEC’s authority to clearly account for the rapid growth in the use of generative artificial intelligence in political communications.
Holman noted that some states have passed laws to regulate deep rigging, but said federal legislation was needed to give the Federal Election Commission clear authority.
___
This story is part of the Associated Press’ The AI Campaign series, which examines the impact of artificial intelligence on the 2024 election cycle.
___
The Associated Press receives financial support from the Omidyar Network to support coverage of artificial intelligence and its social impact. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for philanthropy, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org
