Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has unveiled a draft legislative framework that targets some of the most hot button issues swirling around Hollywood and AI, including the use of copyrighted works in training models and the prevalence of unauthorized deepfakes of major celebrities.
Blackburn’s proposals also call for sunsetting Section 230, the provision of a 1996 law that exempts platforms from liability for third party content. The tech industry has fiercely lobbied against efforts to modify or abolish Section 230, as it is considered a cornerstone of Silicon Valley’s growth over the past 30 years.
Blackburn’s proposals also include safeguards for minors, as well as provisions designed to “prevent discrimination based on political affiliation.”
Blackburn said in a statement, “Instead of pushing AI amnesty, President Trump rightfully called on Congress to pass federal standards and protections to solve the patchwork of state laws that has hindered AI innovation.”
Blackburn has named the legislation The Republic Unifying Meritocratic Performance Advancing Machine intelligence by Eliminating Regulatory Interstate Chaos Across American Industry, or the TRUMP AMERICA AI Act.
Although the name is a gesture toward the president’s call for federal AI standards, Trump has pushed back against at least one of the provisions, as his administration has taken a more lenient approach to AI development.
One of the provisions in Blackburn’s proposal would make clear that the unauthorized “reproduction, copying or computational processing of copyrighted works” in training models is not a fair use under the Copyright Act. That issue is front and center in a number of lawsuits being brought by content creators, as AI giants contend that their use falls outside the scope of copyright liability.
Trump has seemingly sided with tech on the issue, telling the AI Summit in Washington last year, “You can’t be expected to have a successful AI program when every single article, book or whatever you’ve studied you’re expected to pay for. We appreciate that, but you just can’t do that because it’s not do-able.”
Blackburn’s proposal also incorporates the No Fakes Act, which would give individuals the right to control the use of their digital likeness. The bill was introduced last year along with Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), as well as a long list of supporters in the industry including SAG-AFTRA, studios and record labels, as well as tech companies like Google and OpenAI.
The draft legislation also includes another bill Blackburn has championed, the Kids Online Safety Act, which would require platforms to “exercise reasonable care” in designing features that may increase children’s online activity. It also places restrictions on the use of minors’ data and requires tools so parents can access childrens’ privacy settings.
Other aspects of the proposal include requirements that the National Institute of Standards and Technology develop standards for “content provenance information, watermarking and synthetic content detection.” Another requirement would require that AI companies allow owners of creative or journalistic content to attach source information.
Other provisions require federal agencies to report the job effects of AI, and for the Department of Energy to collect data on the likelihood of adverse AI incidents. The legislation also would establish the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource, designed to make computing resources, datasets and infrastructure available to students, researchers, non-profits, small businesses and academic institutions.