H.R. 8479

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8479 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8479

To require the National Institute of Standards and Technology to 
establish task forces to facilitate and inform the development of 
technical standards and guidelines relating to the identification of 
content created by generative artificial intelligence, to ensure that 
audio or visual content created or substantially modified by generative 
artificial intelligence includes a disclosure acknowledging the 
generative artificial intelligence origin of such content, and for 
other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

April 23, 2026

Mrs. Foushee (for herself, Mr. Beyer, and Mr. Moylan) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Science, Space, and 
Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To require the National Institute of Standards and Technology to 
establish task forces to facilitate and inform the development of 
technical standards and guidelines relating to the identification of 
content created by generative artificial intelligence, to ensure that 
audio or visual content created or substantially modified by generative 
artificial intelligence includes a disclosure acknowledging the 
generative artificial intelligence origin of such content, and for 
other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Consumers from Deceptive 
AI Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:
(1) The majority of Americans consume most of their 
information online from social media platforms. A 2023 Pew 
Research survey found that a large majority of U.S. adults (86 
percent) say they often or sometimes get news from a 
smartphone, computer or tablet, including 56 percent who say 
they do so often.
(2) The increasing capabilities of generative artificial 
intelligence models has led to a marked increase in the 
creation of convincing ``deepfakes'' and greater difficulty for 
everyday Americans in telling real and deepfake images, audio, 
and videos apart. A December 2022 study found participants were 
only 62 percent accurate when asked to determine whether images 
were deepfake or real, and even worse, that their self-reported 
confidence in their answers was high, and unrelated to 
accuracy.
(3) Deepfakes create consumer deception issues, where 
persons can create ``deepfake'' images and videos to fool 
consumers about information related to products they may wish 
to purchase. Fake celebrity endorsements of various products 
and scams have proliferated recently, including an ad in which 
a deepfake of famous actor Tom Hanks endorsed a dental 
insurance plan.
(4) The proliferation of deepfakes can also create national 
security issues, such as a deepfake image of an explosion at 
the Pentagon that was shared widely in 2023 and caused enough 
confusion that the stock market briefly dipped.
(5) Deepfakes used in political advertising can also create 
confusion, such as when someone used an AI model that had been 
trained to replicate President Biden's voice was used to make 
robocalls to voters in New Hampshire ahead of a primary 
election, and provided false information intended to discourage 
potential voters from voting in the election. As the Supreme 
Court found 8-1 in Citizens United v. Federal Election 
Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010), the government has an interest 
in ```insur[ing] that the voters are fully informed' about the 
person or group who is speaking''.
(6) Requiring deepfakes to be clearly labeled is important 
to protect consumers from deception, protect our national 
security, and to maintain an informed electorate.

SEC. 3. GUIDELINES TO FACILITATE DISTINGUISHING CONTENT GENERATED BY 
GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.

(a) Task Forces for Development of Guidelines and Promoting 
Standards.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Director of the National 
Institute of Standards and Technology shall establish task 
forces to accomplish the following goals:
(A) Supporting the development of technical 
standards and guidelines to provide content provenance 
metadata, watermarking, digital fingerprinting for 
audio or visual content, and other technical measures 
that the task forces determine significant. To the 
extent technically feasible, such task forces should 
seek to make content provenance metadata 
cryptographically verifiable, and to make watermarks 
difficult to remove or obscure.
(B) Supporting the development of technical 
standards and guidelines to assist online application 
and content providers and operators in identifying and 
labeling audio or visual content created or 
substantially modified by generative artificial 
intelligence, including exploring interoperable 
standards that assist social media and other online 
platforms with identifying, maintaining, interpreting, 
and displaying watermarks, digital fingerprinting, and 
secure content provenance metadata associated with 
audio or visual content, while considering 
circumvention techniques and enforcement.
(C) Supporting the development of technical 
standards and guidelines to identify and label text-
based content created or substantially modified by 
generative artificial intelligence. Such support may 
include developing standards to embed content 
provenance data or metadata, watermarking, digital 
fingerprinting, or other technical measures when 
creating such content.
(2) Standards bodies.--To the extent possible, the outcome 
and output of the task forces established pursuant to paragraph 
(1) should inform development of technical standards developed 
by private, consensus organizations, as referred to in section 
2 of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 
U.S.C. 272) and OMB Circular A-119.
(3) Membership.--The Director of the National Institute of 
Standards and Technology shall include in the memberships of 
each of the task forces described in paragraph (1) appropriate 
representatives of the following:
(A) Relevant Federal agencies.
(B) Developers of generative artificial 
intelligence technology.
(C) Entities, including standards development 
organizations, engaged in the development of content 
detection standards and technology, including 
authentication and traceability.
(D) Social networking service providers and online 
instant messaging service providers.
(E) Online search engine service providers.
(F) Developers of web browsers and mobile operating 
systems.
(G) Academic entities, civil society and advocacy 
groups, and other related entities, especially such 
entities and groups engaged in the development or 
implementation of content detection standards and 
technology.
(H) Privacy advocates and experts.
(I) Human rights lawyers and advocates with 
expertise in the effects of technology in countries 
around the world.
(J) Media organizations, including news publishers 
and image providers.
(K) Creator associations and organizations 
representing the interests of other copyright owners.
(L) Artificial intelligence testing experts, such 
as those with privacy expertise in artificial 
intelligence red-teaming.
(M) Technical experts in digital forensics, 
cryptography, and secure digital content and delivery.
(N) Any other entity the Director determines 
appropriate.
(4) Duties.--
(A) Submission to director.--Each of the task 
forces established pursuant to paragraph (1) shall, not 
later than 270 days after the establishment of each 
such task force, submit to the Director of the National 
Institute of Standards and Technology a report 
containing recommendations relating to the technical 
standards and guidelines each such task force is 
supporting.
(B) Submission to congress.--Each of the task 
forces established pursuant to paragraph (1) shall, not 
later than one year after the establishment of each 
such task force and annually thereafter for five years, 
submit to the Committee on Science, Space, and 
Technology and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of 
the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a 
report on the activities of such task force for the 
immediately preceding one year period.
(5) Privacy.--The task forces established pursuant to 
paragraph (1) shall consider issuing guidance for online 
service and application providers and operators to store and 
display content provenance data and metadata in a privacy-
preserving manner, including clear guidance on how such 
providers and operators can indicate to users when such users 
are sharing content that contains content provenance data and 
metadata, indicate the information contained in the data and 
metadata such users are sharing, and provide options to limit 
the data and metadata such users are sharing that may have 
privacy implications.
(b) Informing Consumers of Content Generated by Artificial 
Intelligence.--
(1) Providers of generative artificial intelligence 
applications.--A person who makes available to users a software 
application based on generative artificial intelligence 
technology shall--
(A) ensure that audio or visual content created or 
substantially modified by such application incorporates 
(as part of such content and in a manner that may or 
may not be perceptible by unaided human senses) a 
disclosure that--
(i) is machine-readable; and
(ii) acknowledges the generative artificial 
intelligence origin of such content;
(B) establish and implement reasonable measures to 
prevent a disclosure described in subparagraph (A) from 
being removed or otherwise tampered with;
(C) collaborate with providers of covered online 
platforms to assist such providers in identifying and 
accessing the information of disclosures described in 
subparagraph (A); and
(D) ensure that such application makes available to 
users the ability to incorporate, within the metadata 
of content created or modified by such application, 
information regarding the generative artificial 
intelligence origin of such content, including tamper-
evident information regarding--
(i) the name of such application;
(ii) the name and version of the generative 
artificial intelligence model utilized by such 
application to create or modify such content;
(iii) the date and time associated with the 
creation or modification of such content by 
such application; and
(iv) the portion of such content that was 
created or modified by such application.
(2) Providers of covered online platforms.--A person who 
makes available for use a covered online platform--
(A) shall clearly and conspicuously provide to a 
user of such platform, with respect to audio or visual 
content accessed by such user through such platform 
that incorporates a disclosure described in paragraph 
(1)(A), the information included in such disclosure; 
and
(B) may not, with respect to audio or visual 
content accessed by such user through such platform 
that incorporates a disclosure described in paragraph 
(1)(A), remove such disclosure or any incorporated 
information described in paragraph (1)(D).
(3) Regulations.--
(A) In general.--Not later than 2 years after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 
promulgate regulations under section 553 of title 5, 
United States Code, to carry out this subsection.
(B) Consultation.--In carrying out subparagraph 
(A), the Commission shall consult with the National 
Institute of Standards and Technology and the task 
forces established under subsection (a)(1).
(4) Enforcement by commission.--
(A) Unfair or deceptive acts or practices.--A 
violation of this subsection or a regulation 
promulgated under this subsection shall be treated as a 
violation of a regulation under section 18(a)(1)(B) of 
the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 
57a(a)(1)(B)) regarding unfair or deceptive acts or 
practices.
(B) Powers of commission.--The Commission shall 
enforce this subsection and the regulations promulgated 
under this subsection in the same manner, by the same 
means, and with the same jurisdiction, powers, and 
duties as though all applicable terms and provisions of 
the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) 
were incorporated into and made a part of this Act. Any 
person who violates such subsection or a regulation 
promulgated under such subsection shall be subject to 
the penalties and entitled to the privileges and 
immunities provided in the Federal Trade Commission 
Act.
(C) Authority preserved.--Nothing in this 
subsection may be construed to limit the authority of 
the Commission under any other provision of law.
(5) Effective date.--Paragraphs (1) and (2) of this 
subsection shall take effect on the date that is 90 days after 
the date on which the regulations promulgated under paragraph 
(3) take effect.
(6) Safe harbors.--
(A) In general.--A person who makes available for 
use a generative artificial intelligence application or 
a covered online platform may satisfy the requirements 
of this subsection (including regulations promulgated 
under this subsection) by following self-regulatory 
guidelines that are approved by the Commission under 
subparagraph (B).
(B) Self-regulatory guidelines.--
(i) Incentives.--In promulgating 
regulations under this subsection, the 
Commission may provide incentives for self-
regulation.
(ii) Deemed compliance.--Incentives 
described in clause (i) shall include 
provisions for ensuring that a person will be 
deemed to be in compliance with the 
requirements of this subsection (including 
regulations promulgated under this subsection) 
if that person complies with guidelines that, 
after provision of notice and an opportunity 
for comment, are approved by the Commission 
upon a determination that such guidelines 
satisfy the requirements of this subsection 
(including regulations promulgated under this 
subsection).
(iii) Expedited response to requests.--The 
Commission shall act upon a request for 
approval of guidelines under this paragraph not 
later than 180 days after the date on which 
such request is filed and shall set forth in 
writing conclusions with regard to such 
request.
(C) Appeals.--Final action by the Commission on a 
request for approval of guidelines under this 
paragraph, or the failure to act within the time period 
described in subparagraph (B)(iii), may be appealed to 
a district court of the United States of appropriate 
jurisdiction as provided for in section 706 of title 5, 
United States Code.
(7) Privacy and interoperability.--The Commission shall 
consider privacy concerns and the interoperability of standards 
when promulgating regulations under paragraph (3) and 
considering the approval of guidelines under paragraph (6).
(c) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Audio or visual content.--The term ``audio or visual 
content'' means content in the form of a digital image, a 
video, or audio.
(2) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal 
Trade Commission.
(3) Content provenance.--The term ``content provenance'' 
means the chronology of the origin and history associated with 
digital content.
(4) Covered online platform.--The term ``covered online 
platform'' means a website, internet application, or mobile 
application available to users in the United States, including 
a social networking site, video sharing service, search engine, 
or content aggregation service available to users in the United 
States, that--
(A) generates at least $50,000,000 in annual 
revenue; or
(B) had at least 25,000,000 monthly active users 
for not fewer than 3 of the preceding 12 months.
(5) Digital fingerprinting.--The term ``digital 
fingerprinting'' means the process by which an identifier is 
derived from a piece of digital content and stored in a 
database, for the purpose of identifying, matching against, or 
verifying such content, or similar content, at a later date.
(6) Generative artificial intelligence.--The term 
``generative artificial intelligence'' means the class of 
models and algorithms that use deep learning algorithms or 
other statistical techniques to generate new data that has 
similar characteristics and properties to the data with respect 
to which such models and algorithms have been trained, 
including any form of digital content.
(7) Machine-readable.--The term ``machine-readable'' has 
the meaning given such term in section 3502 of title 44, United 
States Code.
(8) Metadata.--The term ``metadata'' has the meaning given 
such term in section 3502 of title 44, United States Code.
(9) Watermarking.--The term ``watermarking'' means the act 
of embedding tamper-resistant information into digital content 
(perceptibly or imperceptibly) which may be used to establish 
some aspect or aspects of the content provenance of the content 
or to store reference information.
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