Two Michigan Democratic lawmakers are calling on Congress to address the use of artificial intelligence in political campaigns after a Michigan congressional candidate used an AI narration of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to help his campaign.
Anthony Hudson, a Republican running in the Republican primary for Michigan's 8th Congressional District, posted a video to TikTok last week featuring AI-generated narration, depicting King declaring that he had “another dream” for Hudson to win the seat. Rep. Joe Morrell (D-N.Y.), a member of the House Administration Committee, along with Reps. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) and Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), expressed concerns about the use of AI and called on Congress to act in a statement on Tuesday.
“At a minimum, election ads that include AI-generated content must include a disclaimer to allow voters to make an informed voting decision,” Rep. Kildee, who represents Michigan's 8th Congressional District, said in a statement.
“Congress must act to address the risks that artificial intelligence poses to our democracy and ensure that commonsense guardrails are put in place regarding the use of AI in elections,” Kildee added.
Dingell called the ad “sickening and wrong” and said the threat that AI poses to the democratic process needs to be addressed.
“To protect our democracy from the dangerous and ever-growing spread of disinformation, we must keep pace with rapidly emerging and evolving technologies, including AI,” Dingell said.
“It is disturbing and wrong that someone could use this technology to forge the voice of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to advance political aims and intentionally mislead voters,” she added. “We must swiftly address this threat to protect the integrity of our elections and ensure this never happens again.”
At the state level, Governor Gretchen Whitmer (Democrat, Michigan) signed a bill into law in November last year that sets out regulations, including requiring election ads generated by AI to include a statement to that effect.
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Hudson initially apologized for the video but later said he believed King would support him if he were still alive and backtracked on his comments about firing staff who had access to his social media accounts. Recent polls have shown Hudson polling at around 1-2% in the Republican primary.
Michigan's 8th District election: Cook Political Report.
