It has happened many times already: Videos using artificial intelligence technologies purport to show powerful politicians saying or doing things they never said or did, like former President Donald Trump hugging Anthony Fauci or Sen. Elizabeth Warren saying that letting Republicans vote could undermine elections.
Both of those so-called deepfake videos have been widely debunked, but a subversive ad making an appearance in the heat of next year’s presidential election in a critical swing state could cause the kind of chaos lawmakers of both parties want to avoid.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers — led by Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar, who chairs the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, and which also includes Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; Chris Coons, D-Del.; Susan Collins, R-Maine; Pete Ricketts, R-Neb.; and Michael Bennet, D-Colo. — proposed legislation last month that would ban the “distribution of materially deceptive AI-generated audio or visual media” about individuals seeking federal office.
