Georgia SB 9 (Ensuring Accountability for Illegal AI Activities Act)

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA: PART I SECTION 1-1. The General Assembly finds: (1) The significant and rapid increase in use and advancements of artificial intelligence and other sophisticated technologies poses a unique danger to the State of Georgia's free and fair system of elections; (2) Artificial intelligence and other technologies now allow individuals, both in good faith and bad faith, to create AI generated media that falsely depicts conduct that appears to be real; (3) The state and its citizens have the utmost rights to both free and fair elections and freedom of speech; and (4) This Act is narrowly tailored for the purpose of protection against the use of deceptive media in bad faith to influence elections by reducing certain candidates' chances of being elected or by suppressing voter turnout through mass confusion.

PART II SECTION 2-1. Title 21 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to elections, is amended in Chapter 2, relating to elections and primaries generally, by adding a new Code section to read as follows: "21-2-605. (a) As used in this Code section, the term: (1) 'Election' shall have the same meaning as provided in Code Section 21-5-3. (2) 'Materially deceptive media' means a video recording, video file, audio recording, or audio file, still image, or still image file that: (A) Appears to depict a real individual's speech or conduct that did not occur in reality; and (B) Would appear to a reasonable observer to be authentic. (3) 'Person' means any employee, staff member, or other similarly affiliated individual of a political party, political body, candidate, campaign committee, political action committee, or any other political committee. Such term shall not include a broadcaster, cable provider, online service, internet service provider, streaming platform, or any employees or agents thereof, who otherwise would not fall under this definition of person except for their sale of advertising to a person as defined in this paragraph. (b) A person commits the offense of fraudulent election interference if he or she, with knowledge of its falsity, publishes, broadcasts, streams, or uploads materially deceptive media within 90 days of an election with the intent to deceive one or more electors for the purpose of: (1) Significantly influencing a candidate's chance of being elected in such election; (2) Creating confusion about the administration of such election; or (3) Otherwise influencing the result of such referendum.

(c) A person commits the offense of solicitation of fraudulent election interference when he or she, with the intent that a violation proscribed by subsection (b) of this Code section be committed, commands, encourages, or requests any individual to commit a violation proscribed by subsection (b) of this Code section. (d) Nothing in this Code section shall apply to activities protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, including, but not limited to, satire, parody, works of artistic expression, or works of journalism by bona fide news organizations. (e) Upon conviction of an offense under this Code section, a person shall be punished as follows: (1) For the first offense, he or she shall be guilty of a misdemeanor; and (2) For the second or subsequent offense, he or she shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than two years nor more than five years and by a fine not to exceed $50,000.00. (f) For prosecutions under this Code section, venue shall be proper in any county in this state where: (1) Any act was committed in furtherance of the unlawful conduct; (2) The candidate affected by the alleged violation resides; (3) The defendant resided at the time of the alleged violation; or (4) The materially deceptive media is received. (g) The Attorney General shall have concurrent jurisdiction to conduct the criminal prosecution of a violation of this Code section. A criminal prosecution for a violation of this Code section shall only be initiated upon the Attorney General receiving a recommendation to prosecute from the State Election Board. (h) In addition to any other remedy provided by law, a cause of action for injunctive relief may be maintained against any person who is in violation of this Code section, by: (1) An individual depicted in the materially deceptive media; (2) The Attorney General; or (3) A candidate for office who has been injured or is likely to be injured by the distribution of the materially deceptive media."

SECTION 2-2. Said chapter is further amended in Code Section 21-2-31, relating to duties of the State Election Board, by revising paragraph (5) as follows: "(5) To investigate, or authorize the Secretary of State to investigate, when necessary or advisable the administration of primary and election laws and frauds and irregularities in primaries and elections and to report violations of the primary and election laws either to the Attorney General or the appropriate district attorney who shall be responsible for further investigation and prosecution. Except as provided in Code Section 21-2-605, nothing Nothing in this paragraph shall be so construed as to require any complaining party to request an investigation by the board before such party might proceed to seek any other remedy available to that party under this chapter or any other provision of law;"

SECTION 2-3. Said chapter is further amended in Code Section 21-2-33.1, relating to enforcement of chapter, suspension of election superintendents, and support and assistance from the Secretary of State, by adding a new subsection to read as follows: "(a.1) In any investigation stemming from an alleged violation of Code Section 21-2-605, the State Election Board shall release to the public the findings of any completed investigation."

SECTION 2-4. Title 21 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to elections, is further amended in Chapter 5, relating to government transparency and campaign finance, by adding a new article to read as follows: "ARTICLE 5 21-5-90. As used in this article, the term: (1) 'AI generated media' means a video recording, video file, audio recording, audio file, still image, or still image file that: (A) Is created through the use of an artificial intelligence system; (B) Depicts a real individual's speech or conduct that did not occur in reality; and (C) Appears to a reasonable observer to be authentic. (2) 'Artificial intelligence system' means an engineered or machine based system that emulates the capability of a person to receive audio, visual, text, or any other form of information and use the information received to emulate a human cognitive process, including, but not limited to, learning, generalizing, reasoning, planning, predicting, acting, or communicating; provided, however, that artificial intelligence systems may vary in the forms of information they can receive and in the human cognitive processes they can emulate. (3) 'Campaign advertisement' means any campaign material, commercial, advertisement, or other media designed to bring about the nomination or election of an individual to any elected office; designed to bring about the recall of a public officer holding elective office or to oppose the recall of a public officer holding elective office; or designed to bring about the approval or rejection by the voters of any proposed constitutional amendment, a state-wide referendum, or a proposed question which is to appear on the ballot in this state or in a county or a municipal election in this state. (4) 'Person' means any employee, staff member, or other similarly affiliated individual of a political party, political body, candidate, campaign committee, political action committee, or any other political committee. Such term shall not include a broadcaster, cable provider, online service, internet service provider, streaming platform, or any employees or agents thereof, who otherwise would not fall under this definition of person except for their sale of advertising to a person as defined in this paragraph.

21-5-91. (a) Notwithstanding the prohibitions contained in Code Section 21-2-605, any person may use AI generated content in any campaign advertisement, so long as the campaign advertisement discloses, in accordance with the provisions of Code Section 21-5-92: (1) The name of the candidate or candidates or campaign committee or committees that created, sponsored, and paid for the campaign advertisement; (2) The name of each person who is being impersonated; (3) That events depicted may not have actually occurred; and (4) That artificial intelligence was used to make part or all of the content of the campaign advertisement. (b) Minor editing of a piece of existing audio or visual media shall not require disclosure under this Code section when such minor editing would not substantially change an observer's understanding of such media.

21-5-92. The disclosure provided for in Code Section 21-5-91 shall meet the following requirements: (1) For each campaign advertisement that involves the use, in whole or in part, of visual media, such disclosure: (A) Shall be in writing and completed in each written language used in the remainder of the advertisement; and (B) Shall be clearly readable, which shall mean that the text of the disclosure shall: (i) Be equal to or greater than 30 percent of the vertical picture height; (ii) Be visible for a period of at least 30 percent of the media, in the case of moving images and video; and (iii) Appear with a reasonable degree of color contrast between the background and the text of the statement. A statement satisfies the color contrast requirement of this division if it is printed in black text on a white background or if the degree of color contrast between the background and the text of the statement is no less than the color contrast between the background and the largest type size used in the communication; and (2) For each campaign advertisement that involves the use of audible media but does not involve the use of any visual media, such disclosure shall be announced, articulated, spoken, or otherwise rendered completely using the same audible volume, the same rate of speaking as measured in words per minute, and each spoken language as used in the remainder of the advertisement. 21-5-93. (a) Each violation of this article shall be punishable by a fine pursuant to the provisions of Code Section 21-5-6, except that the amount of such fine shall not be less than $10,000.00. (b) Any violation of this article involving the use of AI generated media in a solicitation for fundraising shall be punishable by disgorgement of any funds raised within ten days of such solicitation. (c) Except as described in subsection (a) of this Code section, nothing in this Code section shall be construed so as to limit the powers or remedies available to the commission. (d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the commission shall be authorized to investigate any complaint concerning a violation of this article within 90 days of an election.

21-5-94. The commission shall be authorized to promulgate such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the execution of its functions under this article." PART III SECTION 3-1. This Act shall become effective upon its approval by the Governor or upon its becoming law without such approval. SECTION 3-2. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.