Always on the hunt for potential mechanisms that might undermine their authority or persuade votes to question their service, MoCo Delegate Anne Kaiser has sponsored legislation in the General Assembly to:
Prohibiting a person from using fraud to influence or attempt to influence a voter’s voting decision; providing that fraud includes the use of synthetic media; and defining “synthetic media” as an image, an audio recording, or a video recording that has been intentionally created or manipulated with the use of generative artificial intelligence or other digital technology to create a realistic but false image, audio recording, or video recording.
AI image generators are currently a dime a dozen on the internet, some require a subscription and some are free, and with the addition of Gronk, a power AI addition to X.com which allows users to create digital images based on keywords, our politicians are clearly concerned that images mocking their performance might be used during campaign season to influence or persuade voters to re-consider their votes.
If this legislation passes, violations will consist of up to a $5,000 dollar fine or up to 5 years in prison.
The irony of the legislation is that it takes the time to provide a definition of ‘influence’.
Influence – includes the use of pressure, deception, trickery, or direct or indirect authority to induce action or to change the decision or act of another, regardless of the medium used.
This is something that politicians have been doing with their words and campaign material SINCE THE DAWN OF TIME. And yet, they do so without any repercussions. However, if a group or a citizen decides to get cheeky and publish an image of Anne smoking a blunt with the caption “We love to tax your pot habit”……they will face up to 5 years in prison. Unfortunately, Anne is simply not popular enough for Grok to know what she looks like, and Grok strictly prohibits taking existing photos and adding to it.
This is just another example of how those that rule in MD do not want to contend with content that might cause you to question their service or position and are willing to enact laws to punish you if you do so. Don’t threaten the crown!!
