INDIANAPOLIS — The 2024 general election is a little over 10 months away, and that means the political advertisements are right around the corner.
The author of a bill that passed unanimously out of the Indiana House Thursday says people can’t always tell what’s real or fake in those ads.
Rep. Julie Olthoff, R-District 19, said voters have a right to know if what they’re seeing is accurate when it comes to someone running for office.
Under House Bill 1133, any images, video or audio that changes a candidate’s appearance, conduct or speech without the candidate saying it’s OK must put a disclaimer on it, so the person seeing it knows it’s not real.
Lawmakers said the discussion surrounding artificial intelligence isn’t going away because the technology isn’t either.
“I don’t think anyone wants to stop it. We’re all using it today in a lot of different forms, but when it’s used nefariously, we need to have laws that prosecute to make sure it isn’t used for those types of purposes,” said House Speaker Todd Huston, R-District 37.
“We always want to make sure we’re putting guardrails on these things, so they don’t get out of control, there’s no abuse, particularly with election season coming up,” said House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta, D-District 80.
If an ad uses digitally altered media and doesn’t have a disclaimer on it, the candidate featured in the ad can sue the person or group who paid for the ad or put it out there.
HB 1133 now heads to the Senate, where the process of looking at the bill, debating on it and offering changes starts all over again in that legislative body.