Bipartisan AI Bill Aims to Give Journalists, Artists Control Over Content

Journalists, songwriters and other artists would have control over whether their content is used to train artificial intelligence (AI) systems under a new bipartisan bill introduced Thursday in the Senate.

The Edited and Deepfaked Media Content Source Protection and Integrity Act, or COPIED lawwould require platforms that develop or share AI systems and applications to allow users to attach information about the provenance of content to their work within two years.

Content provenance is defined in the bill as machine-readable information that documents the origin and history of digital content. The legislation would prevent companies from using work with such labels to train an AI system or to create synthetic content without users’ consent and compensation.

It would also create a cause of action for owners of covered content and state attorneys general to pursue legal action against entities that misused the content.

The bill would also direct the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop guidelines and standards for content provenance information, watermarking, and synthetic content detection. These standards aim to promote transparency and identify whether content was generated by AI and the origin of the AI ​​content.

The bill was introduced by Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.). Heinrich was one of the members of the Senate AI working group Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) convened.

Cantwell said the project will provide “much-needed transparency around AI-generated content.”

“The COPIED Act will also put creators, including local journalists, artists and musicians, back in control of their content with a provenance and watermarking process that I believe is much needed,” Cantwell added.

The proposed legislation followed growing warnings from groups representing artists and media outlets about the potential dangers of AI using creators’ work without their consent or compensation.

SAG-AFTRA, a major actors union that secured AI protections in its recent contract negotiations, endorsed the bipartisan bill.

“AI’s ability to produce incredibly accurate digital representations of artists poses a real and present threat to the economic well-being and reputation and self-determination of our members,” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, national executive director and chief negotiator of the SAG-AFTRA said in a statement.

“We need a fully transparent and accountable supply chain for generative AI and the content it creates, in order to protect everyone’s basic right to control the use of their face, voice and personality,” added Crabtree-Ireland.

The Recording Academy, the National Music Publishers’ Association, the News/Media Alliance and the National Newspaper Association were also among the groups that endorsed the project.

It’s the latest proposal introduced in Congress to regulate AI and the wide range of challenges the technology poses, from impacts on creators to potential threats to national security.

Congress, however, has not yet voted on a piece of legislation designed to create protective barriers around the creation and deployment of AI.

In May, Schumer released an AI roadmap for regulation with Heinrich and other members of the AI ​​working group. The roadmap encouraged the allocation of at least $32 billion on non-defense AI innovation, but was short on calls for specific regulation.

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story