H.R. 8479: Protecting Consumers from Deceptive AI Act

This bill, known as the Protecting Consumers from Deceptive AI Act, aims to enhance transparency regarding content created or modified via generative artificial intelligence (AI). The proposed legislation has several key components:

Establishment of Task Forces

The bill mandates the establishment of task forces by the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) within 90 days of its enactment. These task forces will focus on developing:

• Technical Standards and Guidelines: These will pertain to content provenance and will encompass systems for watermarking, digital fingerprinting, and other measures for identifying AI-generated or modified audio and visual content.
• Labeling Requirements: Guidelines to assist online application and content providers in identifying and labeling AI-generated or modified content.
• Preventive Measures: Standards to help in the identification and distinction of text-based content created or altered by AI.

Consumer Protection Measures

The bill emphasizes the need for disclosures regarding the origins of AI-generated content. Specifically, it requires that:

• Providers of generative AI applications must ensure that any audio or visual content made with their applications includes a machine-readable disclosure indicating it was AI-generated.
• Such providers should take reasonable measures to prevent unauthorized removal or tampering with this disclosure.
• Disclosures must provide detailed metadata that includes data such as the name and version of the AI model used.

Responsibilities of Covered Online Platforms

Online platforms that host content accessed by users will also have obligations under this act:

• They must clearly provide information regarding the disclosures of AI-generated content to users.
• They cannot remove such disclosures from the content.

Regulatory Framework and Enforcement

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is tasked with developing regulations to enforce the provisions of this bill two years after its enactment. Key elements include:

• The FTC's enforcement capability, treating violations as unfair or deceptive acts under existing laws.
• Potential for self-regulatory guidelines, allowing entities to comply with the act's requirements through approved guidelines.

Privacy Considerations

The task forces are also required to consider privacy implications related to the storage and display of content provenance data. Guidance on how users share such data, which may have privacy concerns, will be addressed.

Definitions and Scope

In this bill, several terms are defined, including:

• Covered Online Platform: Platforms that meet certain revenue or user thresholds.
• Generative Artificial Intelligence: Describing technology that generates new content based on learned patterns from existing data.
• Watermarking and Digital Fingerprinting: Techniques for embedding information into digital content to verify its authenticity and provenance.

Relevant Companies

None found