Bill Regulating Ai Use in Political Ads Opposed by Florida Democrats

Florida State Senator Nick DiCeglie’s (R-18) proposal to regulate Artificial Intelligence (AI) use in political advertisements was recently critically assessed by Democrats in committee hearings.  

Senator DiCeglie’s bill would require any political content produced with the assistance of ‘generative AI’ to include a disclaimer notating the technology’s use during content production. 

Generative AI is software that can generate images, video, audio, text, and other digital content upon being queried to do so by a user. 

The emergence of this new and generally unregulated technology has enabled a proliferation of videos and images at times depicting individuals partaking in actions that never occurred. 

If DiCeglie’s bill is passed, individuals who fail to disclose generative AI use for their political advertisements could be criminally charged and fined thousands of dollars. 

Democrat Senators questioned the legislation’s scope regarding the type of political media that would have to contain a disclaimer. 

 Senator Tina Polsky (D-30) reportedly claimed the bill’s text insufficiently describes which AI uses it addresses. 

Additionally, Senator Polsky expressed frustration with criminalizing violations of the proposed law. 

Polsky stated she was “very surprised” with the criminal aspect of the bill and emphasized the bill’s ambiguity concerning who to charge in case of a violation. 

DiCeglie’s AI proposal was ultimately approved by the Ethics and Elections committee in a 5-3 party-line vote. 

A different AI proposal was also introduced by Florida Republicans last month. 

Florida Senator Joe Gruters (R) filed a bill in December to establish the ‘Artificial Intelligence Advisory Council’ within Florida’s state government. 

The AI council would be lodged in the  Department of Management Services and surveil the development and use of AI systems across Florida. 

The council would be composed of two Senators, two House Representatives, two scholars with expertise in ethics and AI, an expert on AI law enforcement, a policy expert, and a constitutional law expert. The former 4 council members would be appointed by their respective chamber’s leader while the latter 5 would be appointed by the governor.