WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) issued the statement below following the release of the bipartisan AI Policy Roadmap released by Leader Schumer and Senators Mike Rounds (R-SD), Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Todd Young (R-IN).
“As AI continues to advance at a rapid pace, we need to make sure our laws are sophisticated enough to keep up. Leader Schumer and Senators Rounds, Heinrich, and Young’s strong bipartisan roadmap details where we must take action and highlights priorities I’m focused on including safeguarding our elections, supporting journalism, increasing transparency and accountability for high-risk, non-defense uses of AI, and protecting people’s voice and likeness from being replicated without permission. It’s critical we act to establish common sense guardrails.”
Today, Klobuchar, Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration with oversight over federal elections, chaired a markup of her three bipartisan bills to address the impact of AI on our elections the Preparing Election Administrators for AI Act, AI Transparency in Elections Act, and AI Transparency in Elections Act. All three bills passed out of committee.
In March 2024, Klobuchar introduced the bipartisan Preparing Election Administrators for AI Act with Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, to require the Election Assistance Commission, in consultation with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to develop voluntary guidelines for election offices. These guidelines will address the use and risks of AI in election administration, cybersecurity, information sharing about elections, and the spread of election-related disinformation.
In March 2024, Klobuchar introduced the bipartisan AI Transparency in Elections Act with Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) to require disclaimers on political ads with images, audio, or video that are substantially generated by AI. The legislation requires political ads created or altered by AI to have a disclaimer, except when AI is used for only minor alterations, such as color editing, cropping, resizing, and other immaterial uses. The bill also requires the Federal Election Commission to address violations of the legislation quickly.
In September 2023, Klobuchar introduced the Protect Elections from Deceptive AI Act with Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO), Chris Coons (D-DE), Susan Collins (R-ME), and joined by Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO). The bipartisan legislation would ban the use of AI to generate materially deceptive content falsely depicting federal candidates in political ads to influence federal elections.
Last November, Klobuchar with Senators John Thune (R-SD), Roger Wicker (R-MS), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) introduced the AI Research, Innovation, and Accountability Act. The bipartisan legislation establishes a framework to bolster innovation while bringing greater transparency, accountability, and security to the development and operation of the highest-impact applications of AI.
In March 2023, Klobuchar and Senator Kennedy introduced the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act to allow news organizations to jointly negotiate fair compensation for access to their content by dominant online platforms. This legislation is cosponsored by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Steve Daines (R-MT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Susan Collins (R-ME), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Roger Wicker (R-MS).
Klobuchar is a lead sponsor of the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act of 2023. The NO FAKES Act is a bipartisan proposal that would protect the voice and visual likeness of all individuals from unauthorized recreations from generative AI.
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