Georgia House approves crackdown on deepfake AI videos before elections

The Georgia state House voted Thursday to crack down on deepfake artificial intelligence (AI) videos ahead of this year’s elections.

The House voted 148-22 to approve the legislation, which attempts to stop the spread of misinformation from deceptive video impersonating candidates.

The legislation, H.B. 986, would make it a felony to publish a deepfake within 90 days of an election with the intention of misleading or confusing voters about a candidate or their chance of being elected.

The bill would allow the attorney general to have jurisdiction over the crimes and allow the state election board to publish the findings of investigations.

One of the sponsors of the bill, state Rep. Brad Thomas (R), celebrated the vote on social media.

“I am thrilled to inform you that House Bill 986 has successfully passed the House! This is a significant step towards upholding the integrity and impartiality of our electoral process by making the use of AI to interfere with elections a criminal offense,” Thomas posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

The bill states that the Georgia Legislature finds a “significant and rapid increase in use and advancements of artificial intelligence and other sophisticated technologies” that pose a “unique danger” to the state’s elections. AI now allows individuals who are acting in both good and bath faith to create content that is fake but appears real, the text said.

Satire and parody would be exempted from the bill, and campaign advertisements would require disclosures if the content used was generated with AI, noted the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which first reported the bill’s passage.

Among the few lawmakers who opposed the bill was state Rep. Charlice Byrd (R), the Journal-Constitution reported. She said the legislation would limit freedom of speech and “threatens to erode the bedrock of freedom.”

The bill now heads to the state Senate, where Republicans hold the majority.

AI has become a widely popular and emerging technology that lawmakers across the country are concerned poses threats to society. Just days ago, lawmakers in the U.S. House announced an AI task force to create guardrails and recommend policy. Last October, President Biden signed a sweeping executive order that focuses on managing the risks of AI.