06/08/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/08/2024 15:55
08.06.2024
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Updates
This presidential election season has heightened concerns about the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content in political ads to mislead voters. With this concern in mind, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed rules to mandate disclosure of AI-generated content in political advertisements in media platforms subject to FCC jurisdiction. In its recent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), the FCC acknowledges that AI-generated content in political ads can be a beneficial tool for election candidates, such as by enabling candidates to more easily create advertisements tailored towards specific communities. The FCC also notes that such AI-generated content could deceive the public, such as in the case of deepfakes. Because FCC rulemakings typically take at least a year to finalize, any final rules adopted in this proceeding would likely not be effective until well after the 2024 presidential election.
In her statement accompanying the NPRM, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel highlighted the concerns, noting "roughly three-quarters of Americans say they are concerned about misleading AI-generated content" and asserting that "the public has a right to know" if AI is used to create political ads. Chairwoman Rosenworcel cites the Biden robocall deepfakes during the New Hampshire primary as an example of the "rising tide of disinformation" and emphasizes the importance of delivering on a "key principle of democracy - transparency." See our prior blog post for more on the emerging legal landscape surrounding election-specific deepfakes.
The Proposed Rules
"An image, audio, or video that has been generated using computational technology or other machine-based system that depicts an individual's appearance, speech, or conduct, or an event, circumstance, or situation, including, in particular, AI-generated voices that sound like human voices, and AI-generated actors that appear to be human actors."
This definition would be the first official definition related to "artificial intelligence" adopted by the FCC. Notably, the proposed definition is arguably broad enough to cover not only content that is generated with AI technologies, but also content that was created using more traditional editing tools, such as CGI and VFX software.
Next Steps
This NPRM is the culmination of a months-long effort by the FCC to propose transparency requirements related to AI-generated content in political ads, which Chairwoman Rosenworcel announced in May of this year. Public comments are due 30 days after the NPRM is published in the Federal Register, with reply comments due 45 days after publication.
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