FCC AI Labeling Proposal Meets the Moment, Says New Public Citizen Comment

September 19, 2024

FCC AI Labeling Proposal Meets the Moment, Says New Public Citizen Comment

Washington, D.C. - Today, Public Citizen submitted a commentto the Federal Communications Commission in support of its proposed rulemaking on the use of AI deepfakes in campaign communications.

Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, issued the following statement:

"Political deepfakes are fast rushing at America and the world. We need regulators to take action to protect our democracy, not bury their heads in the sand. The Federal Communications Commission's proposal to require labeling of AI-generated political ads is an example of agency action to meet the moment and defend election integrity."

Public Citizen's detailed comments explain that:

1. Misleading artificial intelligence-generated audio and video content is proliferating in the United States and around the world and poses a serious threat to democratic integrity.
2. The harms from deceptive deepfakes can be substantially mitigated or avoided through disclosures that inform viewers and listeners that they are seeing or hearing AI-generated content. A Federal Communications Commission disclosure requirement for AI-generated content is thus strongly justified by the Commission's public interest standard.
3. Disclosure should be calibrated so as not to apply to all or virtually all political advertisements. Public Citizen proposes that the FCC's disclosure requirement would apply to content that is completely or predominantly generated by AI or significantly edited by AI tools.
4. The disclosure obligation proposed by the Commission is completely compatible with the First Amendment.
5. Current interpretations of FCC law are blocking states from consistently regulating deepfakes across all platforms. The FCC should clarify that states have freedom to act.