AI-generated 2024 U.S. election ads are now required by Google to include clear disclaimers when artificial intelligence is used.
The search engine giant announced the new policy the GOP released two ad campaigns they created using AI tools.
AI-Generated 2024 US Election Ads Required to Include Clear Disclaimers
Google confirmed that election ads for the 2024 U.S. election will be required to put clear disclaimers.
Via its official blog post, the search engine giant said that they will be updating their Political content policy in mid-November.
Google stated that all verified election advertisers (in regions that have verification requirements) will need to disclose if ever they used synthetic content that falsely portrays realistic events and individuals.
"This disclosure must be clear and conspicuous, and must be placed in a location where it is likely to be noticed by users," said the tech giant.
What Election Ads are Included?
Google said that the new policy will apply to audio, video, as well as image content. Google provided examples of election ads that will fall in the new guideline:
- An ad with synthetic content that alters footage of a real event or generates a realistic portrayal of an event to depict scenes that did not actually take place.
- An ad with synthetic content that makes it appear as if a person is saying or doing something they didn't say or do.
The search engine firm also clarified that election ads that use artificial intelligence to generate content that is "inconsequential" to the advertisements' claims will be exempted.
Google said that if the ads only used AI tools for their editing techniques, such as color grading, image resizing, cropping, defect correction, and background editing, they are no longer required to include disclaimers.
AI as a Political Weapon
Gizmodo reported that the new policy was announced by Google since AI is already being used as a political weapon.
Recently, the Republican Party released an advertisement titled "Beat Biden." The GOP published this AI-generated election ad after U.S. President Joe Biden confirmed that he is running for the presidency again.
Another AI-generated election ad was released by a super PAC, which supports Ron DeSantis. These are just some of the instances when artificial intelligence tools are used for political purposes.
