On November 19, the Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security held a critical hearing on combating AI-enabled fraud and scams. With bipartisan support, lawmakers and experts explored legislative solutions to curb the misuse of artificial intelligence technologies, emphasizing the urgency of action during the current lame-duck session.
Subcommittee Chair John Hickenlooper (D-CO) acknowledged AI’s transformative potential but highlighted its concurrent risks. “For all those benefits, we have to mitigate and anticipate the concurrent risks that this technology brings along with it,” he stated. Subcommittee Ranking Member Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) pointed to the alarming rise in scams, citing the Federal Trade Commission’s finding that consumer losses climbed by $1 billion in the past year to a staggering $10 billion. “AI is driving a lot of this,” Blackburn emphasized, calling for comprehensive legislation to address the issue.
A panel of witnesses, including Dr. Hany Farid, an expert on deepfakes; Justin Brookman, Director of Technology Policy at Consumer Reports; Mounir Ibrahim, Chief Communications Officer at Truepic; and Dorota Mani, the mother of an AI scam victim, provided insights on systemic risks and possible countermeasures.
The witnesses outlined four primary concerns:
- Content Provenance: Panelists highlighted the need for metadata that indicates whether content is AI-generated. Ibrahim noted a lack of incentives for platforms to adopt such measures, calling for greater transparency.
- Comprehensive Privacy Laws: Witnesses and Senators agreed on the need for robust privacy legislation. “It should be criminal that we don’t have a data privacy law in this country,” Farid asserted.
- Corporate Accountability: The panel discussed shifting the burden of responsibility from consumers to AI developers. Farid suggested holding companies accountable for misuse, such as unauthorized voice cloning.
- Stronger Enforcement: Brookman urged Congress to empower the FTC with more resources and legal authority to combat fraud effectively.
Chair Hickenlooper spotlighted five bipartisan AI bills under consideration:
- The Future of Artificial Intelligence Innovation Act of 2024: This bill would establish the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute to set voluntary AI standards and test model safety across various applications.
- Validation and Evaluation for Trustworthy AI Act (VET AI Act): It would direct the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to create voluntary guidelines for internal and external AI assurance.
- Artificial Intelligence Research, Innovation, and Accountability Act (AIRIA): This act would mandate transparency in AI systems and standardize definitions and reporting for high-impact AI applications.
- The COPIED Act: Aimed at addressing deepfakes, the bill would establish AI-generated content detection standards and disclosure requirements.
- The TAKE IT DOWN Act: This legislation would criminalize the dissemination of non-consensual intimate imagery, including AI-generated deepfakes, and require social media platforms to remove such content.
With bipartisan support, the proposed legislation aims to curb AI misuse and establish foundational safeguards. However, the limited time left in the lame-duck session raises questions about whether these bills can pass before Congress adjourns. The three weeks remaining on the Senate calendar will likely determine whether these initiatives can cross the finish line or face delays until the next Congress convenes.
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