With Rising AI-Generated Disinformation Circulating Nationally, Supervisor Preston Leads Local Response

With an increase in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in elections across the country, the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed Supervisor Preston’s resolution to support the pending state AI bill package consisting of four bills before the state legislature. Preston is also working with the City Attorney on strengthening local law to prevent election disinformation. This follows Supervisor Preston’s hearing regarding San Francisco’s regulations and oversight of artificial intelligence in local elections last week.

“San Francisco will not sit idly by and allow AI-generated disinformation to threaten local elections,” said Preston. “I appreciate the support of my colleagues and the hard work of our elections and ethics officials, as well as outside public interest experts, to ensure the maximum possible transparency and accountability in our local elections.”  

The four bills unanimously supported by the Board of Supervisors include AB 2655 (Berman) – Elections: deceptive audio or visual media, AB 2839 (Pellerin) – Elections: deceptive media in advertisements, AB 3211 (Wicks) - California Provenance, Authenticity and Watermarking Standards and SB 1228 (Padilla) - Large online platforms: user identity authentication.

The AI legislative package was introduced after David Evan Harris, a faculty member at UC Berkeley and advisor to California Common Cause and the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, presented key state bills at Supervisor Preston’s hearing last week. During the hearing, Harris also discussed local policies to address AI’s role in San Francisco elections, and how to better prepare for the November elections. Some of the recommendations came from the recently announced report he co-authored, from the Brennan Center on ‘How Election Officials Can Identify, Prepare for, and Respond to AI Threats.’ The report describes AI threats and lists actions and steps that election officials can take to make the upcoming election as safe and secure as possible.

“Our world is undergoing significant shifts due to AI. We've already seen our democracy attacked through online influence and disinformation campaigns for close to a decade. AI in the wrong hands can supercharge these attacks,” said David Evan Harris, a faculty member at UC Berkeley and advisor to the California Initiative for Technology and Democracy and the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law.

“My colleagues and I may not always agree on everything, but we stand united in confronting AI-generated election disinformation, as shown by today’s vote” said Supervisor Preston.