A bipartisan group of senators has introduced a new bill that aims to combat the misuse of fake content using artificial intelligence by requiring such content to be watermarked.
BillSen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) have introduced a proposal that proposes a uniform way to watermark AI-generated content.
The bill, called the Content Origin Protection and Safety from Edited and Manipulated Media (COPIED) Act, aims to strengthen protections for creators and create controls on the types of content that AI can be trained on.
According to Cantwell, the bill would provide “much-needed transparency” into AI-generated content, while putting “creators, including local journalists, artists and musicians, back in control of their content.”
If passed, the law would require AI providers like OpenAI to require users to include information about the origin of the content they produce. Furthermore, this would have to be done in a “machine-readable” way that cannot be bypassed or removed using AI-based tools.
The FTC will oversee enforcement of the COPIED Act. The regulator will treat violations as unfair or deceptive acts, similar to other violations under the FTC Act.
With the advent of artificial intelligence, there has been much debate about its ethical implications, given the technology’s ability to collect massive amounts of data from across the web.
These concerns were evident when tech giant Microsoft announced to retreat Who takes up board seats at OpenAI?
“AI has given criminals the ability to create fake images of anyone, including those in the creative community, to mimic their appearance without their consent and profit from the fake content.” Senator Blackburn said,.
The proposed bill coincides with a 245% increase in scams and fraud using deepfake content. A report from Bitget estimates losses from these schemes at $10 billion by 2025.
In the cryptocurrency space, scammers have leveraged AI to impersonate prominent figures such as Elon Musk and Vitalik Buterin to trick users.
In June 2024, a customer of the OKX cryptocurrency exchange lost more than $2 million after attackers managed to bypass the platform’s security using fake videos of the victim. The previous month, Hong Kong authorities cracked down on a scam platform that used an image of Elon Musk to mislead investors.
Meanwhile, tech giant Google recently came under fire from National Cybersecurity Center (NCC) founder Michael Marcotte for insufficient safeguards against deepfakes targeting cryptocurrencies.
