Res. No. 499
Resolution calling on the United States Congress to pass, and the President to sign, the Protecting Consumers from Deceptive AI Act.
By Council Members Joseph, Farías, Avilés, Cabán, Salaam, Banks, Sanchez, Brannan and Brewer
Whereas, The advancement of generative artificial intelligence (AI) models has led to a significant increase in the creation of convincing “deepfakes,” or computationally created media that falsely represent reality; and
Whereas, It is difficult to tell real and AI-generated images, audio, and videos apart, and multiple studies have shown that people cannot reliably detect deepfakes; and
Whereas, Bad actors can use deepfakes to deceive, misrepresent, and influence people, and researchers at cybersecurity company Mandiant have documented a number of instances of illicit actors using AI and deepfake technology for phishing scams, misinformation, and other illicit purposes; and
Whereas, Deceptive deepfakes have robbed millions of dollars from companies and individuals worldwide, including scams involving parents getting calls from cloned versions of their child’s voice asking for money, according to a 2023 Bloomberg report; and
Whereas, Deepfake celebrity endorsements of various products and scams have proliferated in the past year, including ads in which a deepfake of Tom Hanks endorsed a dental insurance plan and a deepfake of Taylor Swift promoted a cookware giveaway, as reported by The New York Times; and
Whereas, Deepfakes are also being used to influence politics, including an audio recording featuring a voice deepfake of Manhattan Democratic leader and former state Assemblyman Keith Wright disparaging Harlem Assemblywoman Inez Dickens posted online in 2023; and
Whereas, AI-generated content has led to numerous instances of harm to minors, particularly through the sharing of fake sexually explicit media; and
Whereas, Clear labeling of AI-generated content would help protect New Yorkers from deception; and
Whereas, As part of the Fiscal Year 2025 state budget, New York amended section 14-106 of the Election Law to require any entity that distributes or publishes any political communication altered with AI technology that could reasonably be perceived as authentic include a disclaimer that the material has been manipulated; and
Whereas, The Protecting Consumers from Deceptive AI Act, introduced in Congress by Representatives Anna Eshoo and Neal Dunn, attempts to mitigate the risks posed by deepfakes by requiring disclosures of all AI-generated content; and
Whereas, H.R.7766, the Protecting Consumers from Deceptive AI Act, would direct the National Institute of Standards and Technology to facilitate the development of standards for identifying and labeling AI-generated content; and
Whereas, The Protecting Consumers from Deceptive AI Act would require generative AI developers to include machine-readable disclosures such as watermarks within content generated by their AI applications; and
Whereas, The Protecting Consumers from Deceptive AI Act would require online platforms to use these disclosures to label AI-generated content; now, therefore, be it,
Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls on the United States Congress to pass, and the President to sign, the Protecting Consumers from Deceptive AI Act.
NEM
LS 17103
7/11/24