‘The Risks Of AI For Our Elections Could Be Severe If We’re Not Careful’: Chuck Schumer Warns

2 months ago

During Senate floor remarks on Wednesday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke about protecting elections from the harm of AI.

Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:

https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript

Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00In a few minutes, Senator Klobuchar, Chair of the Rules Committee, will ask for a unanimous

00:04consent request on two bills, the Protect Elections from Deceptive AI Act and the AI

00:10Transparency in Election Act.

00:13I want to thank Senator Klobuchar for her leadership on these bills and for her committee's

00:18bipartisan work to protect our elections from the potential harms of AI.

00:24Both of these bills, the Protect Elections from Deceptive AI Act and the AI Transparency

00:30in Election Act, have bipartisan support, so the Senate should support them and pass

00:36them without delay.

00:38Madam President, we're less than 100 days out from the first national elections ever

00:42held in the age of AI.

00:44We all know AI has many incredible benefits, but alongside those benefits come great risks.

00:50And the risks of AI for our elections could be severe.

00:53If we're not careful, if we fail to install proper guardrails, AI could jaundice and even

00:59totally discredit our entire election system as we know it.

01:03Misinformation is already a serious problem in our elections, but AI makes it easier than

01:08ever to generate and spread it.

01:11It's easier than ever to create deep fakes of candidates.

01:14AI already has been used in robocalls to impersonate President Biden for the purposes of misleading

01:21voters during the primary.

01:23And once that information is out, it's hard, often impossible, to put the genie back in

01:29the bottle.

01:30Well, we have a chance today to pass precisely the kind of guardrails that would protect

01:35our elections from the risks of AI.

01:37We have a chance today to make sure that our democracy is not atrophied or harmed, discredited,

01:45because of these kinds of misleading ads.

01:48These bipartisan bills would ban the use of material misleading AI-generated deep fakes

01:53that depict federal candidates and require disclaimers anytime political ads use AI in

01:59a substantial way.

02:01Most Americans, I think, would overwhelmingly agree that these are reasonable guardrails,

02:05and they give voters peace of mind that AI isn't being used against them during election

02:10season without their knowledge.

02:12These bills have broad support.

02:15Democrats support these bills.

02:16Republicans support these bills.

02:18Over 40 current, former, and election officials and national security experts support these

02:23bills.

02:24Everyone recognizes the need to get something done.

02:27We're in a new world with AI.

02:28It can do a lot of good things, but it can cause some harms, and our job is to maximize

02:33the benefits but decrease the harms.

02:36One of the harms could be these deep fakes in elections, and we must do something about

02:40it.

02:41A few months ago, I worked with the Senate's bipartisan AI Working Group, which I created

02:47a year ago with Senators Heinrich and Young and Rounds, to publish the first-ever roadmap

02:51for AI policy.

02:54Our roadmap detailed a swath of proposals the Senate should consider to fortify our

03:00democracy in the age of AI.

03:02I'm very glad to see that some of the good ideas we called for in our bill, in our AI

03:07Sorry, I'm very glad to see that some of the good ideas we called for in our AI policy

03:12roadmap are reflected in these two bills.

03:15So I again thank, greatly thank, Senator Klobuchar for championing these bills, for coming to

03:21our AI forums and hearing what had to be said, and then beginning to take action to make

03:27sure the abuses don't occur.

03:30I look forward to working further with Senator Klobuchar, the Rules Committee, other chairs

03:34and committees, to regulate AI before it's too late.

03:38I yield the floor.

‘The Risks Of AI For Our Elections Could Be Severe If We’re Not Careful’: Chuck Schumer Warns

Category

Transcript

Recommended