President Joe Biden’s 2024 presidential campaign is working to be legally ready for any potential AI-generated images or videos, including deepfakes, that could be used against him in what many analysts are saying could be an election cycle rife with “disinformation.” AI remains a worry for many in politics, especially as there are no AI regulations.
According to CNN, a task force has been created for Biden’s reelection campaign. This group is composed of top lawyers and legal advisors with the goal of creating what they call a “legal toolkit” to quickly stop potentially harmful AI-generated content from hurting Biden’s campaign.
Arpit Garg, the deputy general counsel for Biden’s campaign, stated, “The idea is we would have enough in our quiver that, depending on what the hypothetical situation we’re dealing with is, we can pull out different pieces to deal with different situations.”
The task force has also begun to draft work related to some existing legal theories in case they would have to sue bad actors using potentially harmful AI-generated content.
There is currently no clear federal regulation over AI-generated political speech, nor any federal legislation limiting this use. As a result, political campaigns have to deal with these issues themselves, even though there’s no legal precedent on how to handle AI content that could harm elections.
There are also no current federal bans on political deepfakes. Analysts note that it can be difficult for many people to recognize a deepfake immediately, or AI audio that sounds like someone’s real voice, as technologies have far surpassed what was common just a year ago.
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Because these AI-generated forms of content can be difficult for Americans to differentiate from regular content, analysts stress that AI could pose a severe threat to the democratic process during the 2024 presidential election.
While there are no laws against political AI content, Biden’s campaign is looking to see if laws against “disinformation” could be invoked, obviously setting the stage for serious potential abuses.
Specifically, Biden’s task force stated they are looking at a recent case where a man was convicted for sharing fraudulent claims about how to vote on social media, eventually being targeted and convicted under a Reconstruction-era law that criminalizes conspiracies intended to deprive American citizens of their rights.
What could possibly go wrong here?
