Schatz Statement On Tech Companies’ Pledge To Label Election-Related Deepfake Content

MUNICH – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, today released the following statement after leading tech companies unveiled a pledge at the Munich Security Conference to label deepfake content generated by AI related to elections. Schatz introduced the bipartisan AI Labeling Act last year, calling on companies to label all AI-generated content, regardless of subject matter.

“With dozens of elections taking place this year around the world, including in the United States, this announcement is welcome news for safeguarding the integrity of elections and combatting rampant misinformation and manipulation,” said Senator Schatz. “But AI is turbocharging fraud, scams, and other deceptive or outright illegal behavior at a scale that goes far beyond just elections. We urgently need legislation that regulates AI-generated content in a holistic way and mandates labeling on all such content, no matter the context. That’s why I’m continuing to work with my colleagues to pass the bipartisan AI Labeling Act. The bottom line is: people deserve to know whether the content they’re encountering online is real or not.”

Schatz is attending the Munich Security Conference as part of a bipartisan congressional delegation.

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