On August 10, the US Federal Election Commission unanimously approved A petition which could regulate deepfakes in political commercials generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
The petition targets ads that use artificial intelligence to depict political opponents taking action or saying what they did not do or say, ahead of the 2024 election.
Robert Wiseman, president of the petition advocacy organization Public Citizen, called deepfakes “a major threat to democracy.”
“The FEC must use its power to ban deepfakes or risk complicity in an AI-driven wave of fraudulent disinformation and destroy the basic rules of truth and falsehood.”
We’ve already seen cases of candidates who have it They used fake AI-generated images as part of their campaigns. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is running for the Republican nomination, has Widespread Three photos of former US President Donald Trump embracing Dr. Anthony Fauci.
During the meeting with the Federal Election Commission, Public Citizen asked for clarification regarding an already-existing law aimed at preventing “fraudulent misrepresentations” in political campaigns and whether deep fake AI systems are included.
Lisa Gilbert, Executive Vice President of Public Citizen, said:
“The need to regulate deepfakes and other deceptive uses of AI in election advertising becomes more urgent with each passing day.”
FEC decided to continue petition The next step will be a 60-day public comment period, which Gilbert called an “encouraging sign” that the AI threat to democracy is “being taken very seriously” by regulators.
Craig Holman, PhD, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen, commented on the public comment period arguing that:
“The public comment period will provide an important space for policy advocates, pundits, and voters to voice their concerns about a potential outbreak of deepfakes during the upcoming election cycle.”
This latest action follows Public Citizen’s initial petition in July. The petition reiterated the same sentiment, highlighting that deep fakes can deliver influence the election results.
After the first petition was published, members of both houses of the US Congress responded with letters of support.
Cointelegraph has reached out to Public Citizen for more comment on their efforts on the matter.
Translated by Walter Rizzo
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