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The South Australian government has introduced new legislation banning robocalls, robopolls, and AI generation in the context of state elections.
The new legislation, which has come into effect as part of a wave of electoral reforms from the state government, bans the making of automated robocalls containing unsolicited, pre-recorded messages relating to a state election by any Parliament member or person acting on their behalf.
Taking part in robopolling, where a computer script is used to autogenerate opinion polls rather than individuals, in the context of state elections or voting intentions, is also prohibited, with up to $5,000 fines for individuals and $10,000 for body corporates that violate the law.
“We know that South Australians are sick and tired of political robocalls, which are becoming all too frequent. Our reforms mean that political robocalls and robopolls are now banned for state elections,” said Deputy Premier of South Australia, Kyam Maher.
The new legislation also prohibits the use of AI to generate deepfake electoral ads that depict an individual doing something they didn’t actually do, without their permission. Those who breach will face fines of up to $5,000.
“One thing that is becoming more apparent by the day is that we need to be on our guard to protect against misinformation online, and our laws banning the use of misleading deepfakes in political advertising is an important step in keeping up with this technology,” Maher said.
The state government added that individuals will be allowed to consent to their image being used in an ad, but any ads that use AI must be clearly labelled as AI-generated.
While not in South Australia, the Liberal Party created and ran the first AI-generated political ad last year, drawing controversy.
The ad, which was to be run exclusively in Canberra, used a deepfake of the ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr.
The ad stars Bob, a man who has voted for the same political party every year.
“Every time it is time to vote, Bob votes for the same party,” the ad narrator said.
“After 20 years of broken promises – we’re not happy, Andrew,” the ad continued, next to an AI depiction of Barr and several news headlines, including “ED wait times languish at nation’s worst” and “Housing crisis set to intensify in ‘unhealthy’ market”.
Prior to the ad, the use of AI in political ads has been exclusive to social media, with the Liberal Party facing backlash after it posted a deepfake video of the then Queensland premier, Steven Miles, dancing.
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