The application of artificial intelligence-powered technology is often controversial - mostly as it proves to be out of its depth - for example, as a tool of moderation and censorship.
But there are some areas in which this tech seems to excel, like the so-called deepfakes - video and audio manipulated in a way that appears highly realistic, i.e., showing people saying or doing something they did not say or do. But here, too, the way this machine learning software is, or could be used is controversial.
Deepfakes, although used for a long time by spy agencies and movie special effects studios, among others, have now become associated with the idea of election manipulation via misinformation, and as such, have attracted the attention of US legislators ahead of the country's presidential elections next year.
In California, two bills seeking to regulate this area were signed last Thursday - AB 730, that aims to protect politicians from deepfake videos by criminalizing their distribution - and another, AB 602, that allows people misleadingly portrayed as taking part in pornographic content to sue those making these videos.
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