Florida House passes bill requiring AI-generated political ads to include disclaimer

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida House has approved a measure (HB 919) that would mandate political advertisements created using generative artificial intelligence to include a disclaimer acknowledging the use of the technology.

The bill passed with a vote of 104-8, though some Democrats raised concerns about the inclusion of a criminal penalty in the legislation.

RELATED: ‘Very deceptive:’ Florida lawmakers look to limit use of AI in political ads

Under the proposed bill, political ads utilizing AI-generated “images, video, audio, graphics, or other digital content” must include a disclaimer stating: “Created in whole or in part with the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI).”

Individuals responsible for paying, sponsoring, or approving political ads found to violate this requirement could face first-degree misdemeanor charges.

AI-generated images and videos are becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from real ones. For example, the company OpenAI announced on February 15 the program Sora, which can recreate AI-generated videos of up to 60 seconds based on written commands

At the time of this story, the program has not yet been released to the public.

READ: Sora is ChatGPT maker OpenAI’s new text-to-video generator. Here’s what we know about the new tool

Representative Alex Rizo, R-Hialeah, who sponsored the bill, emphasized the need for such legislation due to the potential dangers and misuse of artificial intelligence to create deceptive content.

Rizo explained, “The reason why we wanted to give this (bill) a little more teeth than usual election bills or election laws have, is because now for the first time, there is a real concern to really change reality on people.”

A similar bill (SB 850) is awaiting consideration by the Senate, indicating bipartisan support for measures aimed at regulating AI-generated political advertising in the state.

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