Bill to require disclaimers on deceptive AI in campaign ads is off to governor

SANTA FE — It’s up to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham now to decide if campaign advertisements must have disclaimers when using deceptive media created by artificial intelligence.

Senators passed House Bill 182 by a vote of 25-14 along party lines Wednesday. Republicans weren’t vehemently against the bill but, after many questions on details, still voted against the measure.

Bill sponsor Sen. Katy Duhigg, D-Albuquerque, explained this bill would require visual or audio disclaimers when “deepfakes” are used on campaign ads — when AI creates synthetic images or audio to display someone doing or saying something they didn’t.

This would apply to websites, internet forums, newspapers, magazines or other news periodicals, according to the bill.

“In general, deepfakes are insidious because they make the public question reality,” Duhigg said.

She said five states have adopted similar legislation, and another 35 states have similar legislation pending.

It would be a misdemeanor to knowingly break this rule and a fourth-degree felony for a second conviction, under this legislation.

Many senators generally agreed with the intent of the bill but had a lot of questions on how it would actually work.

“I appreciate this conversation because it’s only going to become more and more of an issue,” said Sen. Crystal Diamond Brantley, R-Elephant Butte, who voted against the bill.

Sen. Greg Nibert, R-Portales, said he wonders if there’s enough data to come up with model legislation yet and agrees there needs to be something in the books about this.

“We’ll certainly keep our eye on this to see how it pans out, probably, in this election season,” he said. “We may be back here in a year from now talking about some fine-tuning.”