The Right to Lie with AI? First Amendment challenges for state efforts to curb false political speech using deepfakes and synthetic media

Abstract

As the first major U.S. election in the era of widespread, accessible artificial intelligence (AI) tools approaches, several states have passed laws aimed at curbing the spread of false photos, videos, and audio of candidates. Authors review deepfake and AI technology and legislative efforts to regulate them, finding strong First Amendment protection for false political speech that may thwart most legislative efforts beyond mandatory disclaimers. Technological solutions are proposed as an alternative.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, deepfake, First Amendment, political speech, false speech