Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Webinar Panel Weighs FCC's Proposed AI Political Ad Regulation

On October 7, Free State Foundation President Randolph May moderated a webinar, "The FCC's Proposal to Regulate Political Ads Using Artificial Intelligence." Video of the webinar is now available online. The Federalist Society-hosted webinar featured a panel discussion on the Commission's proposed rulemaking that would require radio and TV broadcasters as well as cable and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) operators to include a disclaimer on all political candidate and political issue ads that contain content generated using artificial intelligence (AI). The proposed rulemaking also would require notice filings in online political files regarding ad usage of AI, and impose obligations on broadcasters (and cable and DBS operators) to act when informed by "credible third parties" that the ads being transmitted contain AI-generate content. 

The FCC's novel regulation of political ads with AI-generated content raises important questions about the scope of the agency's authority and the policy merits of the proposal. Those topics are ably tackled by the webinar panel, consisting of FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, Public Knowledge President Christopher Lewis, as well as Prof. Bradley Smith, a former FEC Chairman. To learn more, check out the webinar video


On September 19, the Free State Foundation filed initial comments in the FCC's novel AI political ad regulation proceeding. And FSF filed reply comments on October 7. text