Signed by Governor Dan McKee

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that prohibits the use of artificially generated or altered campaign materials without disclosure within 90 days of any election in Rhode Island.

Highlights:

• Defines “synthetic media” as an image, an audio recording, or a video recording of an individual’s appearance, speech, or conduct that has been intentionally manipulated with the use of generative adversarial network techniques or other digital technology to create a realistic but false image, audio, or video that produces (Sec. 1):

• A depiction that, to a reasonable individual, appears to be a real individual in terms of appearance, action, or speech, but that did not occur in reality; and

• A fundamentally different understanding or impression of the appearance, action, or speech than a reasonable person would have from the unaltered, original version of the image, audio recording, or video recording.

• Prohibits the use of any synthetic media for campaign purposes within 90 days of the election in which the subject of the synthetic media is running (Sec. 1).

• Exempts synthetic media that includes a disclosure message stating that the image has been manipulated or generated by artificial intelligence (Sec. 1).

• Specifies that for visual media, the text of the disclosure shall appear in a size that is easily readable by the average viewer, and no smaller than the largest font size of any other text appearing in the visual media (Sec. 1).

• Specifies that a candidate whose appearance, actions, or speech are depicted using synthetic media may also bring an action for general or special damages against an entity making an independent expenditure (Sec. 1).

• Specifies that this Act takes effect upon passage (Sec. 2).

Full Bill Text