### The Legal Battle Over AI-Generated Deepfakes
#### The Rise of AI Forgeries
Imagine waking up to find your voice being used in a commercial without your consent. Or a friend calls you, upset because her image has been manipulated into explicit content. These scenarios are becoming more common as AI-generated forgeries flood the internet.
#### Constitutional Rights and AI
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and its state affiliates argue that Americans have a constitutional right to create deepfakes. Brian Hauss, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, explains that while AI itself has no rights, the people using it do.
“Anytime you see large waves of bills attempting to regulate a new technology across 50 different state legislatures and God knows how many community ordinances, there’s going to be a fair number of them that draw the lines incorrectly,”
#### The Right to Listen
Cody Venzke of the ACLU’s National Political Advocacy Department emphasizes the importance of the “right to listen.” This principle suggests that restricting who can listen is as problematic as restricting who can speak.
#### Challenges to AI Regulations
Many AI laws and regulations fail to meet constitutional standards. For instance, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) is considering whether existing rules on fraudulent misrepresentation apply to deceptive AI campaign ads. The ACLU warns that these rules should only target deepfakes with a clear intent to deceive.
#### Political Lies and AI
In October 2023, President Biden signed an executive order addressing AI’s role in spreading misinformation. The ACLU argues that citizens have a constitutional right to use AI to spread untruths, just as they do in traditional media.
#### Social Media and AI Content
On January 29, the ACLU opposed a bipartisan Senate bill that would hold social media platforms liable for hosting AI-generated content. The ACLU warns that this could lead to platforms being prosecuted for hosting non-AI content as well.
#### Publicity Rights and AI
The ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) are skeptical of expanding “publicity rights” to protect artists from AI-generated mimicry. They argue that these rights could be used to suppress speech. For example, while “Saturday Night Live” can legally impersonate celebrities, AI-generated deepfakes could face legal challenges.
#### The Future of AI and Free Speech
As AI technologies evolve, society must balance the protection of free speech with the need to regulate harmful content. Mary Anne Franks, a law professor at George Washington University, notes that we face new challenges with AI-generated speech.
“We’re suffering from a different problem than we ever suffered from before,”
#### Conclusion
The debate over AI and free speech is far from settled. Advocacy groups and regulators must find a workable compromise to protect both free speech and the public from harmful AI-generated content. The future may force us to choose between unrestricted free speech and granting the government unprecedented power to control what is considered true or valuable speech.
1 Comment
Wait, you’re saying deepfakes should be protected speech?!