D21 President Fred Wertheimer On Bipartisan Efforts In The Senate To Address The Problems Posed By AI

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Democracy 21 applauds the bipartisan effort underway in the Senate to develop public policies to address the dangerous problems posed by Artificial Intelligence (AI).

This important effort is being led by Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), joined by Senators Mike Rounds (R-SD), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Todd Young (R-IN).

Also providing important bipartisan leadership are Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Susan Collins (R-ME) who have introduced legislation to address election issues.

We have already seen evidence of the misuse of AI and how quickly a deepfake can spread.

If unchallenged and unregulated, AI will cause grave problems for our democracy, our elections, our government, and the private sector.

The rapidly growing role of misinformation in our society combined with the freewheeling use of AI, if unaddressed by Congress, will likely wreak havoc on our elections.

AI tools are widely available that allow users to create alarmingly realistic deepfake audio and video of public figures, including candidates and government officials, that are easy for bad actors to quickly and widely distribute.

Under current rules, voters are left with no way of knowing whether candidates or others in campaign ads are real or AI generated.

These same AI tools could also be used to promote voter suppression, mislead citizens on important policy issues, and endanger national security and public safety.

Senator Schumer’s bipartisan group of Senators is engaged in an enormously important and urgent effort to curb the threat of AI to our elections, our democracy, and our country.

The stakes could not be higher. The Senate and House must act effectively.