Campaign Legal Center’s Trevor Potter: Congress Must Pass Bipartisan AI Election Bills Immediately

Yesterday, Trevor Potter, president of Campaign Legal Center and Republican former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, submitted a letter to the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, urging immediate action to advance to the Senate floor three bipartisan bills addressing artificial intelligence (AI) in our elections.

The letter comes ahead of tomorrow’s Senate Rules Committee markup on the three bipartisan bills — the Protect Elections from Deceptive AI Act, the AI Transparency in Elections Act of 2024 and the Preparing Election Administrators for AI Act — that each address the unique and unprecedented challenges AI creates for elections from varying angles.

“2024 will be the first election cycle where Artificial Intelligence is widely used from beginning to end — and there are very real concerns that this new technology could be used to deceive voters and manipulate our electoral process,” said Trevor Potter, president of Campaign Legal Center. “These recently introduced, bipartisan bills are a constitutionally grounded response to this risk that provide desperately needed transparency for the growing political use of this technology and provide protection for its most dangerous applications. For the sake of our country, they must be considered and passed without delay.”  

These bipartisan bills provide a complementary response to the challenges AI creates for elections. The bills provide necessary transparency for the growing political uses of this technology, prohibit its most dangerous applications for our democracy, and ensure that election officials are prepared to address the threat of AI to their critical work. The proposed policies enjoy widespread support from the American public.

Last year, CLC president Trevor Potter testified to the committee at a hearing, “AI and the Future of our Elections,” that addressed the looming threat of AI in elections. His testimony focused on how AI tools could be used to easily generate and spread political communications that are deceptive or fraudulent, and the urgent need for policymakers to address the potential impacts of this technology on our democracy.  

Now, with the November election less than six months away and the committee marking up three bipartisan, common-sense bills, Congress must act without delay.

Learn more about steps our government can take to address the threat of AI in our elections here.