A bill in the Kansas legislature aims to prevent people from using artificial intelligence to create false political attack ads.
The bipartisan bill would prohibit political campaigns from using AI-generated media to create “false representations” of candidates or public officials in ads and other campaign materials. It includes images, audio, and video that have been manipulated with AI to create realistic but false depictions (often called “deepfakes”) of a candidate, public official, or their actions.
At a hearing on the bill last week, Democratic Minority Leader Vic Miller said he wanted to introduce the legislation out of fear that someone could use false, AI-generated media to influence election results. Is.
“It should be a two-way approach,” he said. “It’s scary what could happen to one of us or any of us if someone plays with it (technology) rudely.”
AI generators like ChatGPT and Midjourney have become commonplace on the Internet in just a few years. Those programs take user input to create text or images. Some photo editing programs, such as Adobe Photoshop, also have powerful AI tools that allow users to manipulate existing images.
Media produced with AI is controversial due to its potential to spread misinformation and violate copyright and academic integrity. Some celebrities have also been targeted when their likenesses have been used to create realistic but false, sexually explicit media.
Clay Barker, general counsel for the Kansas Secretary of State’s office, says the deceptive nature of AI can lead to a phenomenon known as “false profits.”
“If I have an embarrassing video of myself (that) gets out there, I can say, ‘Oh, that was just AI,'” he said. “Then people don’t know what to believe, and it’s called the ‘post-truth world’ in elections.”
As written, the bill does not appear to prohibit basic photo editing or non-AI manipulation — such as editing a candidate’s photo so that it appears in a different setting — that are often used in election ads. happens. The bill also states that political advertisers can use AI-generated media as long as they display it clearly and prominently in the ads.
The bill creates an offense of corruption for contravening its provisions. Some lawmakers on the House Elections Committee said that was not a fair result.
“If you do it two days before the election, the damage can’t be undone,” said Rep. Michael Dodson, a Republican. “That’s why I think the punishment for this kind of thing should be pretty severe.”
The bill is co-sponsored by Miller and Republican Rep. Pete Proctor, chairman of the House Elections Committee. The legislation will need committee approval before it can be introduced in the House.
Daniel Caudle reports on the Kansas State House and government for Kansas Public Radio and the Kansas News Service. You can email him at dcaudill@ku.edu.
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