From The Hill
Yes, we should regulate AI-generated political ads — but don’t stop there
By Hany Farid
Ahead of the 2024 U.S. election, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) is considering whether and how to regulate political ads generated by artificial intelligence (AI), also known as deepfakes.
Last week, the FEC advanced a petition calling for regulation of political ads that specifically use generative AI to misrepresent what a candidate said or did. This is not a hypothetical issue — campaigns have already begun to use generative AI in their ads.
Deepfakes are images, audio clips and videos that have been automatically synthesized by an AI-powered system. From only a single text prompt, for example, generative AI can create a hyper-realistic image of anything from a fake bombing at the Pentagon to Pope Francis in a puffy coat. From only a few minutes of audio, generative AI can clone a candidate’s voice, allowing its creator to generate a recording of a candidate saying just about anything...
Hany Farid is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences and the School of Information at UC Berkeley.
