senate republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Wednesday a bipartisan bill coming out of the Senate Rules Committee that would ban the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to create deceptive content about federal candidates to influence elections. announced that he was against it.
Mr. McConnell, a longtime opponent of campaign finance limits, said the bill coming out of the Rules Committee would “tamper with” what he called “a well-developed legal system” to remove false advertising and would “not go far enough.” “It will create a new definition that can reach people.” Beyond deepfakes. ”
He argued that if his colleagues on the Rules Committee viewed more than a dozen political ads, “they would disagree on which ones are intentionally misleading.”
“The central question we face is whether politicians should have another tool to remove speech they don't like,” he said. “But if the amendment before us extends this power to unpaid political speech, it also opens up an expansion of speech regulation that has not occurred in 50 years of modern campaign finance. You’re talking.”
The Protecting Elections from Deceptive AI Act, which prohibits the use of AI to create misleading content, was proposed by Senate Rules Committee Chairman Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Sen. Josh Hawley. (R-Missouri), Chris Coons (D-Delaware), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Michael Bennet (D-Colorado), and Pete Ricketts (R-Nebraska).
But McConnell cited testimony from Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), saying the bill's definition of deepfakes is “vague at best and overly censorious when applied most cynically.” ” he said.
“All kinds of photos and videos could be banned as long as a vaguely defined 'reasonable person' could infer another meaning from the content,” he said.
The Rules Committee on Wednesday passed the AI Transparency in Elections Act, which would require disclaimers on political ads that include images, audio and video generated by AI, and require federal agencies to create voluntary guidelines for election offices. It also marked “How to prepare AI-enabled election administrators.”
Mr. McConnell opposes proposals to require new disclaimers, saying they could be used to regulate content.
“There are also concerns about disclaimers and their application. Throughout its history, our political immunity system has been designed to help voters understand who is paying for their ads and who they are supporting. “It has never been applied to political advertising as a content regulation tool,” he said.
He urged his colleagues to spend more time on the issue to find consensus and vowed to oppose any future AI legislation.
“Until Congress comes to a consensus on what is and isn’t acceptable with AI, our control in the realm of political discourse with our jaws will not undermine it. “I oppose S. 2770 or S. 3875 at this time, and I would encourage my colleagues to do the same,” he said.
All three bills passed the Rules Committee.
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