Chuck Schumer eyes opportunities to pass deepfake and AI bills as 2024 elections near

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New Yorker, and Jewish, was speaking in August when he said: Y. , has conscientiously spent the last year warning the world that lawmakers must take necessary steps to regulate AI. 
 
Last week another supporter of Trump, the tech billionaire Elon Musk tweeted a fake dubbed video to nearly 200 million followers in X that included voice-overs of VP Kamala Harris stating things she has never said. 
 
Lacking rules for the utilization of AI to portray political candidates, Schumer and others concern that this could lead to a qualifications without bounds scenario where deepfakes of Harris, Trump and other candidates would spread in the media sphere — and diminish voters’ confidence and credibility in candidates, elections, and American democracy. 
 
Democracy is in trouble if people can no longer believe that the person speaking is who you think he is, Schumer said in an interview Thursday on the balcony of his Capitol office. 
 
As the period for legislative activity remains condensed this calendar year, the chamber’s majority is unpredictable, and behind the wheels, a powerful New York Democrat, there are must-pass bills where something might be gotten done on the speed of the technology he calls a danger to democracy and national security. 
 
Schumer suggested to NBC News that Two deepfake election bills could be passed with the must-pass funding bill required to prevent the shutdown before the end of the September of this year — approximately a month before the election. And the majority leader stated that the gigantic defence policy for fiscal year 2025 that has to be approved by 31 December may also contain AI laws related to national security. 
 
The deepfake bills would bar any fake, artificially produced audio or video that deceive for the purpose of the election of a federal candidate or for solicitation of campaign funds or demand for any disclaimer that is generated through AI on political advertisements. The pair of bills passed through the Rules Committee but the Republicans were able to prevent them from passing on the floor last week after the Democrats attempted to rush the bills through with unanimous consent, which requires assent from all the senators. 
 
In June, republicans also voted down a bill that would prohibit deepfake pornographic images arguing that their own bill, which was also against deepfake pornography was more restrained and would not infringe on First Amendment rights. 
 
Schumer said Democrats will keep pressing the attack. 
 
”These are American bills. We are going to fight because democracy is at such risk,” he said. “We will try to get these completed in every way that is possible, and we expect that our Republican colleagues will change their minds soon, The support is not solely on the Democratic side, it’s bipartisan information since the problem impacts people of both parties Deep fake is very dangerous to democracy. ” 
 
The funding bill 
 
Asked if the leader would dedicate ample time on the floor to the deepfakes bills when the Senate reconvenes from the five-week August recess on September 9, Schumer noted: there are only three weeks the chamber remains in session before senators are sent back to the campaign trail for the elections. The only thing that will be moving during that brief time, other than by suspension, is a continuing resolution to fund the government past the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year and through Election Day. 
 
“We have three weeks when we come back”, the Senate Minority Leader Schumer said, still noting, “two weeks are occupied with funding the government”. “If we can get these on a must-pass bill, or if the Republicans will let us speed up the time and not just use delay for two, three weeks — yes,” the bills will be brought back to the floor. 
 
The GOP’s 2024 party platform also includes the abolition of Executive order on AI signed by President Joe Biden as the Republicans consider it an obstacle to AI advancement. 
 
It’s democracy that Republicans are opposing, Schumer continued and elaborated that ‘Donald Trump , and so many of the Republicans who follow him, they don’t really like democracy, they don’t treasure democracy. So they’re putting pressure on Republicans to go against these bills. ’ 
 
This he said would be a black spot on the entire long history of this beautiful Republic, if it prevails. 
 
It ironic as in the past the Congress has been slow to act when it comes to regulating the power of Big Tech. But the increasing threats from China this past spring legislative bodies rushed to approve the possible ban of the popular video-sharing service TikTok in the United States unless its Chinese owner sells the app. 
 
Some of the proponents succeeded in proving that Tiktok is a security threat, and Schumer and the others also said the same security reason could help pass some AI provisions on the defense policy bill or National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). 
 
There is a Schumer proposed amendment to the NDAA of authorizing physical and cybersecurity standards on data centers containing the new and emerging “frontier” artificial intelligence models and an amendment Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, of mandating training of some of the senior defense leaders in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and the related data analysis tools and platforms.

A third amendment was offered by Sen. Brian Schatz D-Hawaii and requires the Defense secretary to establish the working groups on AI across the pentagon. There are numerous other concepts which perhaps can be put to the vote but the number is uncertain. 
 
‘We have many AI initiatives in the defense appropriations bill because AI raises national security issues, ‘ Schumer said to NBC News. 
 
Schumer's priority 

Schumer 73, who had served in both House and Senate for over four-decade had not been considered as an important figure on the topics related to the technology. However, the latest impulse for the formation of these rules came only last year after the popularity of the AI chatbot ChapGPT, and Schumer, who occupies one of the most important positions and has significant influence, has clearly stated that AI rules will be one of the central priorities of the legislative work within the 118th session, which will be concluded in early January 2023. 
 
He delivered a big AI speech on what he said was this ‘moment of revolution’, in which congress must proceed to regulate the positives and contain the negatives of this revolution through legislation that protects the jobbers, guards the nation’s security and democracy while at the same time encouraging development and competition. 
 
Schumer staged nine AI insight forums where senators could listen to specialists of various fields present potential concepts for legislation. By the end of that year, one such event had a star-studded guest list that included Musk, Zuckerberg, Gates, Pichai, Altman, and Huang among others. 
 
And Schumer established a bipartisan AI working gang, or group, which included himself, Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N. Cole Mcbeth M. , Todd Young, Republican, Indiana. Mike Rounds, R. -S. D. In May, the gang prepared the “road map” for AI legislation and the necessity to increase the nondefense financial request to $32bn a year for innovations. 

In a separate interview last week, Rounds laid out the group’s legislative strategy: instead of the gang to present one comprehensive ai package that potentially overlays many committees’ jurisdictions, have these committees claim their respective territories by applying their imprints on related proposals and attempting to report the bills to the floor in a more methodical fashion, or in other words, in a piecemeal manner. 
 
Asked what was it that RepublicaA’n leaders wanted it they did not wish to pass a mega bill? The answer from Rounds, the NBC News was: “We did not wish that Instead, we wished that the individual committees will do the work on it You will see it in the NDAA. “So, each committee will function independently, and indeed, the legislation that is produced can be as good as possible with the hope that those who are included in the process are knowledgeable in that field. ” 
 
Last week, Schumer referred to three AI-associated bills in progress that may go to the Senate. 
 
He explained two of a series of AI-related bills that recently passed the Senate Commerce Committee, of which one will instruct the government to set up large, public data repositories from which small businesses, academics and persons can get data for AI research. Another bill is the Future of AI Innovation Act that will enable NIST to establish the AI safety standards meant for business, academies and government partnerships. 
 
At the same time, the third bill — the PREPARED for AI Act introduced by Rosen—was approved by the Senate Homeland Security Committee with the Chair, Gary Peters, a Democrat from Michigan. s, which delivers the commentary If the Democrats successfully pack the court, <Speech_Male> Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N. C. It would make federal agencies calculate the probable risks of utilizing AI prior to buying or implementing AI technologies. 
 
“Clearly AI is such a great promise — cure cancer, address climate change, become a personal tutor to every child in the world But AI has issues,” Schumer said, regarding the Future of AI bill. “Thus, what is required in this case is that innovation must be our guide, but we require rules in this bill. ”