HARRISBURG, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Legislation that would require advertisers to clearly mark any images or videos that were made with artificial intelligence took a key step in the Pennsylvania Senate.
The bipartisan bill, from Western Pennsylvania Democratic state Sen. Nick Pisciottano and Montgomery County Republican state Sen. Tracy Pennycuick, would require advertisers to clearly mark any AI-generated ads that create, in Pennycuick’s words, “a false consumer perception” of a product.
“That disclosure must appear at the first instance where the synthetic content is presented. It must also appear in the same medium as the synthetic content and must be difficult to remove,” explained Pennycuick.
She said there was a carve-out for first-amendment protected content like satire, fiction, or parody.
Pisciottano called his bill a “great first step,” as Pennsylvania and states across the country try to figure out how to deal with AI.
“I believe this bill strikes a balance between fostering innovation but also consumer protection, so Pennsylvania can be a leader nationally on sensible AI production protections,” he said.
The State Senate Communications and Technology Committee advanced the legislation unanimously. It heads to the Senate floor. A similar bill cleared committee in the Pennsylvania House earlier this week.
