The federal government’s window for action to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in election campaigns ahead of the 2024 election is quickly closing. But an internecine war between federal agencies threatens one of the most important attempts to establish new rules for these tools.
The chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission last month announced a plan to require policymakers to disclose the use of AI in television and radio ads. This proposal, however, faces unexpected opposition from a senior official at the Federal Election Commission, who is considering adopting new rules on the use of AI by campaigns.
This dispute, along with inaction by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and Congress, could leave voters with limited federal protections against those who use AI to mislead the public or to hide their political messages during the final line right of the countryside. New generative AI technologies have already proven capable of creating surprisingly realistic images.
“AI has the potential to exert great influence on our elections and, currently, there is a complete vacuum of regulation on this issue,” said Ellen Weintraub, Democratic vice chair of the Election Commission federal.
More than a dozen states have passed laws regulating the use of AI in campaigns, but Congress has yet to act, despite concerns about the tool’s influence on Capitol Hill.
Adav Noti, managing director of the Campaign Legal Center and former associate general counsel of the FEC, said that given the bureaucratic quagmire, the likelihood that federal restrictions on the use of AI will be put in place for election campaigns ahead of the November presidential election is “extremely low.”
“The cavalry is not coming,” he said.
This year, public officials and politicians have been targets of AI-generated misinformation. Last month, Democratic operative Steve Kramer was indicted for an AI-generated phone call impersonating President Biden that asked New Hampshire residents not to vote in advance. Soon after, the Federal Communications Commission banned AI-generated voice imitations in phone calls. Last week, a “deepfake” video emerged purporting to show State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller calling the Russian city of Belgorod a potential target for Ukrainian strikes with U.S. weapons.
Headaches for the Biden administration
Any major AI issues during the campaign could cause headaches for the Biden administration, which has made rapid action on AI a central part of its policy. In October, Mr. Biden issued an executive order requiring a series of federal agencies to quickly formulate regulations on the use of AI technologies.
Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced plans last month to review a rule requiring political advertisers to include on-air or written disclosures when deploying “resource-generated content.” AI.”
But this week, a top elections official and a member of the Federal Communications Commission, both Republicans, put the brakes on those plans by accusing the agency’s Democratic leadership of overstepping its authority.
FEC Chairman Sean Cooksey wrote in a letter to Mr.me Rosenworcel that the proposal would encroach on his agency’s role as the primary enforcer of federal campaign law. The Federal Communications Commission’s move could create “irreconcilable conflicts” with potential FEC rules and prompt legal action, Mr. Cooksey wrote.
AI has the potential to exert great influence on our elections and, at present, there is a complete vacuum of regulation on this issue.
The Federal Communications Commission’s proposal has not yet been made public. Mme Rosenworcel said she would not ban the use of AI, but would make it “clear that consumers have the right to know when AI tools are used in the political ads they see.” .
In an interview, Mr. Cooksey argued that introducing disclosure requirements so close to an election could do more harm than good by creating public confusion about the standards.
“This will sow chaos in political campaigns and disrupt the next elections,” he said.
Republicans in Congress and the Federal Communications Commission opposed Ms.’s planme Rosenworcel. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers said in a statement that the agency “has neither the expertise nor the authority to regulate political campaigns or AI”.
Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Brendan Carr argued that because the rules would only apply to political ads on television and radio and not streaming platforms in online, such as YouTubeTV or Hulu, suddenly adding information about AI in some places and not others would be “ultimately very confusing for consumers.” He joined Mr. Cooksey in asking the agency to postpone the issue until after the election, or even indefinitely.
“The Federal Communications Commission must first avoid introducing a radical change in the regulation of political speech on the eve of a national election,” Mr. Carr said.
Mme Rosenworcel said in a statement that the Federal Communications Commission has required for decades that campaign advertisements disclose the names of sponsors and that the adaptation of these rules to the arrival of new technologies was not new.
“It’s time to act on public disclosure of the use of AI,” she said. This technology has benefits, but we also know that it can mislead the public and mislead voters with invented voices and images that impersonate people without their permission. »
With a 3-2 majority, Democrats on the Federal Communications Commission could override Mr. Carr’s objections and implement the plans before the election, but the specter of a legal challenge risks hampering their efforts.
In the absence of legislation defining how AI should be regulated, the actions of any federal agency “will almost certainly be challenged in one way or another in court,” Mr. Noti said.
Several federal initiatives aimed at limiting AI’s effect on the 2024 race face an uncertain fate in Washington, even as officials from both parties warn of the technology’s potential to wreak havoc in the electoral process .
The FEC is considering filing its own petition on the issue, which would explicitly prohibit candidates from using AI to deliberately misrepresent their opponents’ views in political ads. However, Democratic and Republican FEC officials expressed skepticism about the agency’s ability to intervene in this area and called on Congress to establish new rules in place of the proposal.
Unlike the Federal Communications Commission, the FEC is split evenly between the two major parties, with a rotating presidency, a configuration that has often led the agency into gridlock as election reform has become increasingly polarized .
On Capitol Hill, senators have proposed a package of bills that would require AI-generated political ads to carry disclaimers, among other restrictions. However, despite calls for action from top congressional leaders, the window for congressional action before Election Day is quickly closing.
“It’s good that federal agencies are looking at AI’s potential to disrupt campaigns and elections, but we can’t wait to put in place comprehensive safeguards to address these threats said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), who is leading the legislative effort.
