NO FAKES Act – Putting Control Back in the Hands of Real People
How this bipartisan legislation will grant peace of mind in the midst of an uncertain AI future.
With bipartisan support, the NO FAKES Act was put before Congress this week. The name itself stands for Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe, but the abbreviation – NO FAKES it is an excellent summary of the act’s intention, to provide protections against deepfakes online.
The central pillars of the act don’t attack the use of AI to advance creativity or build upon our digital future, but focus on ensuring all people can exercise radical ownership over their likeness. These conversations are hardly new.
In 2021 college athletes were granted rights over their name, image and likeness when NIL standards were adopted by the NCAA. The meteoric rise of AI and its continued evolution has brought this conversation front and center when it comes to actors, musicians and creators.
To be clear, this act does not just protect creatives, and we should all breathe a sigh of relief.
Since its widespread adoption, AI generated deepfakes have been used to exploit underage children, generate images of politicians cheating on their partners, and imitate celebrity voices without their permission.
It’s terrifying to think that tomorrow you could wake up to an image, video or recording of yourself behaving in a way that is untrue, and worse, morally reprehensible.
As it stands, there is no recourse for that action. If the NO FAKES Act passes, social platforms will need to adopt a prompt notice and takedown process.
This act is a step in the right direction when it comes to the ethical adoption of AI into our workflows. Social platforms are also taking charge when it comes to safeguards around AI, Instagram now requires users to label AI generated content.
At Diagonal Media we don’t shy away from AI but we want to be clear when we use AI tools in our work and when we don’t. When we released our original animated children’s music video, Monsterland, we made it clear that every frame was created without the use of AI tools. However, our design team is now working on a new Runway-generated project that embraces these AI tools in a creative and original way.
Just this week, Coyote Peterson was on our podcast, The In Crowd and spoke about the adoption of AI as a new frontier, expanding what he’ll be able to create for his Youtube channel Brave Wilderness which boasts over 20 million subscribers.
AI is a useful new tool, there’s no denying it. It’s exciting, powerful, and is already reshaping our world… All new developments come with trial and error, but let’s learn from the mistakes of Web 2.0 and contribute to a kinder, more creative society as we charge forward into this next rapidly evolving phase.
AI isn’t going anywhere and we have to learn how to live and grow alongside it. Regulation is key.
Let’s keep the conversation going about the evolution of AI and how it impacts human creativity – we’re all in this together.
