Michigan House Passes Bipartisan Bills to Regulate A.I. in Elections
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Michigan House of Representatives today passed a package of five bipartisan bills to curb content generated with artificial intelligence (A.I.) in election communications. The bills were introduced by State Reps. Penelope Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing), Matthew Bierlein (R-Vassar), Noah Arbit (D-West Bloomfield), and Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton).
The legislation would require a disclaimer on political advertisements if they were created using A.I.-generated content and would ban A.I. deepfakes in communications surrounding elections unless they contained a clear disclosure.
“We are pleased that the House passed these important bills to protect people from deceptive A.I. content,” said Rep. Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing), who chairs the Michigan House Elections Committee. “Advertisements containing audio, videos, or images that were generated by A.I. must be properly labeled.”
Texas, Minnesota, California, and Washington already have passed legislation to curb the use of A.I. during elections.
“Deepfakes threaten to eat away at the foundations of our democracy,” said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen. “We applaud Michigan lawmakers for proactively addressing this threat in advance of the 2024 election year and setting an example for the rest of the nation.”
“It’s critical we act to stop A.I. from damaging our elections,” said Talyce Murray, national organizer with the Declaration for American Democracy coalition. “I am proud of the Michigan House for taking action to protect voters from misinformation in my home state.”
Public Citizen has urged the Federal Election Commission to create a rule banning deceptive A.I.-generated content and has called on both major parties and their presidential candidates to pledge not to use A.I. deepfakes in campaigns.