In a significant legislative move, U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) have introduced the Content Origin Protection and Integrity from Edited and Deepfaked Media Act (COPIED Act). This bipartisan bill aims to address the growing threat of AI-generated deepfakes and ensure that journalists, artists, and other creators regain control over their content.
Key Provisions of the COPIED Act
1. Establishing Transparency Standards: The COPIED Act mandates the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to create guidelines for content provenance information, watermarking, and AI content detection. These standards will help identify AI-generated or manipulated content, ensuring transparency about its origin. Additionally, NIST is tasked with developing cybersecurity measures to safeguard these provenance details from tampering.
2. Empowering Content Creators: The legislation ensures that AI tool providers must allow content creators to attach and maintain provenance information. This measure prohibits the unauthorized use of such content for training AI models or generating new AI content. By protecting provenance information, the bill empowers creators—journalists, artists, and musicians—to control and monetize their work.
3. Legal Recourse for Violators: The COPIED Act authorizes the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and state attorneys general to enforce its provisions, as well as granting content owners the right to sue entities that misuse their content without permission. This legal framework provides a robust mechanism to hold violators accountable.
4. Prohibiting Tampering with Provenance Information: Currently, there are no laws preventing the removal or alteration of content provenance details. The COPIED Act addresses this gap by prohibiting such actions, ensuring that provenance information remains intact and reliable.
Support and Endorsements for COPIED Act
The COPIED Act has garnered substantial support from various organizations within the creative industry.
The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), the world’s largest songwriter advocacy group, has applauded the bill for including artists and providing local civil court adjudication options. They emphasize the importance of transparency guardrails around generative artificial intelligence for human creators.
Similarly, SAG-AFTRA which represents performers, has voiced support for the bill, and the protections it will offer artists over their likenesses and voices, essential in an era where AI can create highly accurate digital representations. The capacity of AI to produce such representations poses a real threat to the economic and reputational well-being of their members. This legislation ensures the necessary tools to trace and address the misuse of AI technology.
The Recording Academy has commended the bill’s commitment to ethical AI use and transparency. They emphasize the need for protective guardrails for creators, which are crucial as AI continues to integrate into the creative process.
The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) highlights the importance of identifying AI-generated music and protecting artists from unauthorized imitations. They stress that listeners need to know where their music originates, ensuring that artists and songwriters receive the protection they deserve. This opinion is echoed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which supports provenance requirements as fundamental for enforcing creators’ rights and ensuring ethical AI development. They highlight the challenges posed by leading tech companies that profit from unlicensed copyrighted material to generate synthetic recordings.
The COPIED Act paves the way for more ethical innovation and fair competition in the digital marketplace.
Statements from the Senators
Commenting on the proposed legislation, Senator Marsha Blackburn said, “Artificial intelligence has enabled bad actors to create deepfakes that exploit individuals, especially within the creative community. The COPIED Act is a crucial step towards defending artists and performers from such malicious practices.”
“The bipartisan COPIED Act will bring much-needed transparency to AI-generated content. It ensures that creators, including local journalists, artists, and musicians, retain control over their work through a robust provenance and watermark process.” comments Senator Maria Cantwell.
While Senator Martin Heinrich suggested that, “Deepfakes pose a significant threat to democracy and public safety. The COPIED Act provides the necessary technical tools to combat deceptive AI content, safeguarding professional journalists and artists from unauthorized AI usage.”
The Path Forward
As AI technology continues to evolve, the need for regulatory measures to protect content creators becomes increasingly critical. The COPIED Act represents a significant legislative effort to address these challenges, ensuring transparency, accountability, and protection for those whose work fuels the creative economy. By establishing clear guidelines and legal recourse, the COPIED Act not only protects current content creators but also sets a precedent for future innovations in AI and digital content creation. As the bill progresses through Congress, it highlights the bipartisan commitment to safeguarding the integrity of original content in the digital age.
This content was generated with the assistance of AI tools. However, it has undergone thorough human review, editing, and approval to ensure its accuracy, coherence, and quality. While AI technology played a role in its creation, the final version reflects the expertise and judgment of our human editors.
