BOISE, Idaho — The Wild West of the internet isn’t new, there is a lot out there. Technology though, continues to evolve. The intersection of advancing technology and politics in an election year is quite a crossroads.
On Wednesday, lawmakers proposed House Bill 407 in the Idaho Legislature, which aims to prevent the use of artificial intelligence(AI) from being used to create deep fakes of their image, appearance, and speech which can be manipulated by the technology.
“Everybody's used to kind of some baloney flying around election season. And some misleading fliers. I think we're all acclimated to that and expect it to some extent,” said House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel.
Rep. Rubel is keeping a close eye on technologies and how they interact with political campaigning.
“The advent of AI and deepfakes. I think it's a qualitatively new level that we're going to be looking at heading into the future that really needs to be addressed,” Rubel said.
If you aren’t familiar with new technologies, it’s fair to say a kid with an iPhone could make some high-quality fakes. People are saying things they never did on video in HD. Never mind a politician or political organization.
“Your voice and your appearance and physically generate a video of you saying who knows what, saying I'm a communist or I like to molest children or who knows what, Rubel said. "They could make that video so realistic that it would deceive anybody, that it would receive your own family members."
It’s an election year, so ahead of major campaigning Rubel and co-sponsor Bruce Skaug have legislation to try and reign in fakes.
“Basically says, if you're going to do this, disclose it. So you can still make these deepfakes, Rubel said. "You can still make fake videos, fake audios, fake radio ads where you impersonate a person's voice and have them say things they never said. But you have to prominently disclose it so that the public knows that what they're seeing is not reality.
So, why not just ban the use of AI and manipulation in campaign ads? It is a complicated space.
“There are a lot of First Amendment concerns. Generally, we have to be very careful when we're regulating speech and expression. But if you do it in a manner that makes it okay, as long as you disclose what you're doing, then I think you don't run afoul of the First Amendment,” Rubel said.
The proposed law opens an avenue for media to be taken down if there is no disclaimer that footage and soundbites are altered.
“You can sue, you can get an injunctions, you can block them from putting it out there. And there's language in there encouraging the courts to take quick action because the speed is really an issue. Some of these things drop three or four days before the election and you don't have time to put together an ad to counter it or to really get on the air and reach all the people who were misled,” Rubel said.
So about those disclaimers, acknowledging that a clip or speech has been altered, Rubel said they need to be very clear. There must be a disclaimer and If it's a visual medium, it must clearly show it is generated, and if it's audio, it must be said that it is generated.
"In case somebody missed the disclaimer at the beginning of the end,” Rubel said.
Rubel said this bill is a push for election integrity in the face of new and easier-to-access technologies.
“I think it would really upend our elections and really undermine the integrity of our whole democratic republic and how people vote. So I think it's really important to get out ahead of that. And make sure that what people are seeing is real,” Rubel said.
Of note, the proposal would make the ad sponsor, not the disseminating medium, primarily liable in court.
Again, the legislation provides for an affirmative defense if the ad includes a clear disclosure and says, "This image/video/audio has been manipulated."
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