NEWS: Senators Blunt Rochester and Sheehy Introduce AI Fraud Accountability Act

Washington, DC - U.S. Senators Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), both members of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, today introduced the bipartisan, bicameral AI Fraud Accountability Act to protect Americans from AI scams and hold fraudsters accountable. This bill would create a new offense under the Communications Act to prohibit falsely posing as a real or imaginary individual through a highly realistic digital impersonation with the intent to defraud a person of money or other things of value. The companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives was introduced by Congressmen Darren Soto (D-Fla.) and Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.).

"With more Americans using AI every day, we need to do all we can to cut down on AI-related fraud," said Senator Blunt Rochester. "Our AI Fraud Accountability Act would ensure our statutes are updated to meet this current moment. Thank you to Senator Sheehy for his partnership, and I look forward to working together on this urgent issue."

"Artificial intelligence will help unleash innovation, opportunity, and prosperity in the 21^st century economy, but we must ensure it is not a tool for fraud," said Senator Sheehy. "The AI Fraud Accountability Act modernizes federal law to crack down on AI fraudsters targeting American families, seniors, and businesses while safeguarding technological innovation and First Amendment rights."

"As AI rapidly evolves, it is critical for us to ensure that the technology isn't being misused to cause harm," said Congressman Darren Soto. "We've unfortunately seen cases where it is used to create realistic impersonations of real people. I'm proud to join this bipartisan legislation to set guardrails and prevent these deceptive practices from taking place."

"As artificial intelligence becomes more advanced, criminals are exploiting it to scam hardworking Americans," said Congressman Vern Buchanan. "We are seeing a disturbing rise in AI-generated voice clones and deepfake videos that convincingly impersonate loved ones, business executives, government officials and trusted institutions to steal money. Congress must act to stay ahead of these threats by modernizing federal law to keep up with emerging technology. The AI Fraud Accountability Act makes clear that if you use AI to defraud Americans, you will be prosecuted."

"The threat of AI generated scams and deepfake fraud calls for urgent, bipartisan action," said Brad Smith, President of Microsoft. "The AI Fraud Accountability Act provides legal tools to protect consumers and hold bad actors accountable. Thank you, Senators Sheehy and Blunt Rochester and Representatives Buchanan and Soto for leading this effort to combat fraud. We strongly support this legislation and look forward to continuing to work across Congress to help build a safer digital ecosystem for everyone."

Americans are increasingly being targeted by AI-enabled voice and video scams, and the AI Fraud Accountability Act would modernize federal law to ensure consumers are protected from emerging digital impersonation fraud while safeguarding legitimate speech and innovation.

The prohibitions in this bill would apply to AI-generated or technologically manipulated audio or visual depictions that are indistinguishable from an authentic audio or visual depiction to a reasonable person. Criminal penalties would include imprisonment, fines, and forfeiture of proceeds. For civil enforcement, violations would be treated as unfair or deceptive acts or practices under the Federal Trade Commission Act and enforced by the Federal Trade Commission.

The AI Fraud Accountability Act would also:

• Direct the FTC to identify foreign countries most associated with digital impersonation fraud and to pursue international cooperation agreements to bolster enforcement against overseas actors.
• Establish a working group, led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and including the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, law enforcement, affected industry sectors, and technical experts, to develop best practices and recommendations for fighting digital impersonation fraud.
• Clarify that nothing in the bill restricts parody, satire, journalism, or other rights protected by the First Amendment.

The AI Fraud Accountability Act is supported by Microsoft; the National Consumers League; AARP; the 60 Plus Association; the Center for AI Safety; the Bank Policy Institute; the Business Software Alliance; the Global Anti-Scam Alliance, North America Chapter; and the National Asian/Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship.

The full text of the bill can be found HERE.

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Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester represents Delaware in the United States Senate where she serves on the Committees on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Commerce, Science, and Transportation; Environment and Public Works; and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.