REP. ISSA INTRODUCES BILL TO STOP MISUSE OF AI-GENERATED DIGITAL REPLICAS

East County News Service

Image: AI facial generation; CC by NC via Bing

August 22, 2024 (San Diego) -- Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48) introduced the Preventing Abuse of Digital Replicas Act (PADRA), landmark legislation to protect the voice, image, and likeness of individuals from being used in unauthorized commercial ways.

The recent rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has led to a sharp increase in the number and sophistication of deceptive digital replicas being abused to mislead consumers. Such deepfakes were recently used to falsely portray actor Tom Hanks, country music star Lainey Wilson, and  Elon Musk, owner of Twitter, SpaceX and Tesla, as endorsing various products and services.

“AI is here to stay – and with it all the benefits and risks that are coming into view. We developed this legislation to give individuals the best opportunity to protect their image and likeness and stop its use without their permission for commercial gain,” said Rep. Issa, a Republican who represent portions of San Diego and East County.

Consequently, Issa’s bill represents a key step toward safeguarding personal identity in the age of AI and defines a floor of federally recognized protections against clear misuses of digital replicas.

Specifically, PADRA will:

• Target the commercial misuse of digital replicas of individuals’ identifying characteristics, such as their likeness or voice, providing robust nationwide federal protection.
• Protect the public from the deceptive use of digital replicas to confuse consumers about an individual’s endorsement or affiliation with a product, service, or other commercial activity.
• Adapt and strengthen existing trademark law under the Lanham Act, limiting uncertainty about scope, process, and court interpretation by utilizing well-understood regimes for remedies, jurisdiction, evidentiary issues, secondary liability, and more.
• Establish a clear legal framework for victims to seek redress, providing a rebuttable presumption that recognizes the unique risks of digital replicas to deceive or cause confusion, but also incentivizes taking steps to prevent confusion.
• Clarify preemption and give victims the right to obtain relief either under PADRA or under state law, providing a nationwide minimum level of protection and preserving long-established reliance on existing state laws, without further adding to compliance burdens for already-overregulated U.S. citizens and businesses.
• Include provisions to ensure that the protections do not infringe upon free expression rights under the First Amendment

“Every human soul holds something unique and fundamental: Its true likeness and expressed free will,” said Rep. Issa. “As AI advances in ways and momentum unimagined only a short while ago, the time has come to protect what belongs to each one of us and prepare for what we know is coming.”

The discussion draft of the bill can be found here.

A one-pager for the bill can be found here.