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ARTICLE · 27 DECEMBER 2019

First Federal Legislation On Deepfakes Signed Into Law

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On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed the nation's first federal law related to "deepfakes." Deepfakes are false yet highly realistic artificial intelligence-created media,

United StatesGovernment, Public Sector
Matthew F. Ferraro
Matthew F. Ferraro
Jason Chipman
Jason Chipman
Stephen W. Preston
Stephen W. Preston
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On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed the nation's first federal law related to "deepfakes." Deepfakes are false yet highly realistic artificial intelligence-created media, such as a video showing people saying things they never said and doing things they never did. The deepfake legislation is part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (NDAA), the $738 billion defense policy bill, that the President signed into law on Friday, after it was passed by the Senate 86-8 and the House 377-48.1

In two provisions related to this emerging technology, the NDAA (1) requires a comprehensive report on the foreign weaponization of deepfakes; (2) requires the government to notify Congress of foreign deepfake-disinformation activities targeting US elections; and (3) establishes a "Deepfakes Prize" competition to encourage the research or commercialization of deepfake-detection technologies.

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