‘We are now entering a brave new world’: PA House passes AI disclosure bill

The Pennsylvania House voted in bipartisan fashion Wednesday to approve legislation that would require “clear and conspicuous” disclosures on content generated by artificial intelligence in an effort to require greater transparency surrounding the evolving technology. 

The legislation, House Bill 1598, is sponsored by Democratic state Rep. Chris Pielli and comes at a time when the use of large language model artificial intelligence systems are becoming more commonplace. The bill, which passed with a 146-54 vote on Wednesday, now heads to the state Senate for consideration. Speaking on the House floor on Wednesday, Pielli said consumers have a right to know whether the content they see was generated by an artificial intelligence tool or platform. 

“We are now entering a brave new world where what you see is not necessarily what you get, where three seconds of your recorded voice can make you do a full speech you never made or generated content can depict that you’re doing things that you've never dreamed of doing,” Pielli said. “Bottom line, people have the right to know if what they’re looking at is real or fake when making important purchases.”

Earlier this year, a longtime political consultant commissioned robocalls that impersonated President Joe Biden by using AI, a move that drew increased national attention to the intersection of AI and politics ahead of the 2024 presidential race. 

An April report from Polarization Research Lab found that roughly half of Americans expect artificial intelligence to have negative consequences for the safety elections, while 65% of Americans fear that AI will have a negative impact on personal privacy. 

Pielli framed the bill as a consumer protection bill and stressed that the legislation won’t prohibit people or businesses from using AI to generate content. 

“This is not an anti-AI bill. This is not a bill that states you can’t use AI in advertising,” he added. “Advertisers, you can use as much legal AI content that you want. This bill is simple: If it’s AI, it has to say it's AI.” 

The bill also includes language making clear that artificial intelligence can not be used as a defense in cases related to child pornography, and the bill further directs the state attorney general and local district attorneys to prosecute offenses related to child pornography generated through AI.