{"id":420,"date":"2024-05-06T13:32:46","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T17:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/articles\/how-generative-ai-poses-a-threat-to-democracy\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T13:57:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T17:57:40","slug":"how-generative-ai-poses-a-threat-to-democracy","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/articles\/how-generative-ai-poses-a-threat-to-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"How generative AI poses a threat to democracy"},"template":"","class_list":["post-420","article","type-article","status-publish","hentry","article_type-blog-post"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"Disinformation created using generative AI technology has become a significant threat to our elections. Massachusetts\u2019 leaders must act. ","featured_image":"","article_type":214,"authors":["{\"site_id\":\"56\",\"post_type\":\"person\",\"post_id\":421}"],"related_issues":[463],"related_work":false,"location":null},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":"","name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"<b>Our democracy can only thrive when voters have access to accurate information.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> But Deepfakes produced with artificial intelligence (AI) are being weaponized to spread disinformation and suppress votes. Take for example the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oXE3O6aCs8A\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">deepfake video<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of Ron DeSantis declaring he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race, or the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kLMMxgtxQ1Y\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">GOP deepfake<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> video depicting what America would look like in the future if President Biden gets reelected.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A new Massachusetts law would regulate the use of artificial intelligence in political advertising, increasing transparency and accountability.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What Are Deepfakes?<\/span><\/h3>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deepfakes are digitally altered video, audio, or images that can be used to mislead voters. This content shows events or statements that did not actually occur. <\/span><b>With this AI technology, you can literally put words in other people\u2019s mouths and expressions on their faces. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s troubling.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2018, filmmaker Jordan Peele produced a short deepfake demonstrating the dangers of deepfakes:<\/span>\r\n\r\n<iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cQ54GDm1eL0?si=ITFGiWrjEQW26LKN\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unfortunately, in the six years since that video was released, deepfakes have only become cheaper and easier to produce \u2014 and troublingly, far more convincing.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why Do We Need to Act Now?<\/span><\/h3>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AI technology is progressing quickly, and it is becoming more difficult to distinguish deepfakes from reality. A video that might have taken a large budget and full production team to create a few years ago can now be put together by everyday users with just a few clicks.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>Deepfakes have already come into play for the 2024 Presidential election. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During New Hampshire\u2019s primary, voters received<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2024-election\/fake-joe-biden-robocall-tells-new-hampshire-democrats-not-vote-tuesday-rcna134984\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a robocall impersonating President Joe Biden<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that told recipients not to vote in the presidential primary.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why Aren\u2019t Political Deepfakes Illegal Yet?<\/span><\/h3>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AI-generated content blurs the lines between fraud and free speech. On social media, people are free to express their ideas and views within the parameters of a platform\u2019s policies.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, internet service providers are immune from liability for user content and may set their own standards for how they want to moderate and remove content. This makes users responsible for their own content, sparking debates over the balance between fostering online freedom and mitigating harmful content.<\/span>\r\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What Can Massachusetts State Lawmakers Do?<\/span><\/h3>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s proposed legislation pending before the Massachusetts General Court right now to stop deepfakes from spreading disinformation in our elections. The House of Representatives just passed legislation to regulate deepfakes in election-related materials and there\u2019s also <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/malegislature.gov\/Bills\/193\/S2730\/BillHistory\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">S.2730<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which would:<\/span>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Require disclosure of deepfakes in political advertisements published within 90 days of an election and<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Give candidates who are victims of deep fakes the right to sue the publisher.<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How Can I Help?<\/span><\/h3>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you live in Massachusetts, contact your state lawmakers and urge them to pass <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/malegislature.gov\/Bills\/193\/S2730\/BillHistory\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">S.2730<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to protect the future of our democracy.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No matter where you live, you can talk to your friends and family about deepfakes and encourage them to check the accuracy of the information they see online. You can also report disinformation at <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/reportdisinfo.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/reportdisinfo.org\/<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span>"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_add_component","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_add_component":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_work","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_work":{"heading":"Work","manually_curate":false,"work":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_related_articles","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_related_articles":{"heading":"Updates","button_text":"See all Related Articles","manually_curate":false,"articles":null}}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How generative AI poses a threat to democracy - Common Cause Massachusetts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/articles\/how-generative-ai-poses-a-threat-to-democracy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How generative AI poses a threat to democracy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/articles\/how-generative-ai-poses-a-threat-to-democracy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Common Cause Massachusetts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-11T17:57:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/common-cause-share-image.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/articles\/how-generative-ai-poses-a-threat-to-democracy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/articles\/how-generative-ai-poses-a-threat-to-democracy\/\",\"name\":\"How generative AI poses a threat to democracy - 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