Election Day, Nov. 7, 2023. Kentucky is one of many states looking to protect future elections from being swayed by deep fakes and the deceptive use of artificial intelligence. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Matthew Mueller)

FRANKFORT — A Senate committee forwarded a bipartisan bill Wednesday aimed at limiting use of “deep fakes” or deceptive artificial intelligence to influence elections in Kentucky.?

Two Lexington lawmakers, Republican Sen. Amanda Mays Bledsoe and Democratic Sen. Reggie Thomas, told the Senate State and Local Government Committee Senate Bill 131 is a first step in tackling the use of AI to influence elections.?

In recent years, wider use of AI has led to viral “deep fakes,” or manipulated digital media, to spread misinformation. Recently, robocalls mimicking President Joe Biden urged voters to not participate in the New Hampshire primary last month.

“This technology is changing at a rapid pace,” Bledose said. “Those in the industry recognize this is a first step and some legislation that will likely change or bemodified to adapt to the ever changing environment in the future, but it’s a crucial first step in ensuring that we check the integrity of the election process.”

Thomas, who is the Democratic caucus chair, agreed and warned the use of AI could spread disinformation among voters. He said the General Assembly should act now to “get a handle” on the potential threat.

“Really, this needs to be done at the federal level,” he said. “Congress needs to act, but Congress hasn’t done so thus far, so we see states acting in this space.”?

The committee substitute approved Wednesday would allow political candidates appearing in manipulated digital media to bring legal action against the sponsor of the media.?

It also defines “synthetic media” as “an image, audio recording, or video recording of an identifiable natural individual’s appearance, action, or speech that has been intentionally manipulated with the use of generative adversarial network techniques or other digital technology in a manner to create a realistic but false image, audio, or video that produces” an image that could be seem real or different meaning of an original, unaltered image.?

The bill received 10 favorable votes. The lone nay was Sen. Gex Williams, R-Verona, who raised concerns over the bill’s definition of “synthetic media” and said the bill, as it is now, is a “band-aid,” particularly when it comes to independent expenditure committees.?

“It solves some of the problem but it doesn’t solve all of the problems. It will absolutely positively not keep any of us at any time from being subject to deep fakes in our campaigns,” he said.??

Senate Republican Floor Leader Damon Thayer, of Georgetown, called the bill “thoughtful” and noted independent expenditure committees are regulated at the federal level.?

“I understand Sen. Williams’ concerns relating to independent expenditure committees but we can’t regulate them here,” Thayer said. “We can only make law under Kentucky Revised Statutes, under the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance.”?

With a presidential election looming in November, a few other states are looking to regulate AI or have passed laws on the issue. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures,? 25 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., have introduced bills and 18 states and Puerto Rico have either adopted resolutions or enacted legislation.?