Sheehy, Blunt Rochester Introduce AI Fraud Accountability Act

U.S. SENATE - Senator Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) today introduced the bipartisan, bicameral AI Fraud Accountability Act with Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) to protect Americans from AI scams and hold fraudsters accountable.

"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. 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," said Senator Sheehy.

"With more Americans using AI every day, we need to do all we can to cut down on AI-related fraud. 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," said Senator Blunt Rochester.

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 House of Representatives version of the AI Fraud Accountability Act was introduced by Representatives Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) and Darren Soto (D-Fla.).

"As artificial intelligence becomes more advanced, criminals are exploiting it to scam hardworking Americans. 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," said Congressman Vern Buchanan.

"As AI rapidly evolves, it is critical for us to ensure that the technology isn't being misused to cause harm. 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," said Congressman Darren Soto.

Statements of Support:

"The threat of AI generated scams and deepfake fraud call for urgent, bipartisan action. 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." - Brad Smith, President, Microsoft

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

Background:

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 intent to defraud a person of money or other things of value.

This prohibition 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. This bill 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.

Read the full text of the bill HERE.