by Ross Williams, Georgia Recorder, [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]

March 27, 2025

A bill aimed at reducing misleading AI-generated political ads passed the state House with a bipartisan 152-12 vote Thursday.

Under Senate Bill 9, originally authored by Roswell Republican Sen. John Albers, it would be a crime for political campaigns to knowingly publish certain audio or AI-made materials within 90 days of an election.

To be caught under the law, the material would have to be posted with the intention of significantly influencing a candidate’s chance of being elected, creating confusion about the election or otherwise influencing the result. Including a disclaimer on the advertisement would protect a candidate who posted an ad that would otherwise violate the law.

A first offense would be a misdemeanor, and a second offense would be a felony, carrying a potential sentence of two to five years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000.

The legislation originally created punishments for creating obscene images of children using AI but was amended in a House committee to deal with fraudulent election materials. Language aimed at obscene AI materials still survives in House Bill 171, which passed the House and is awaiting a Senate vote.

Holly Springs Republican Rep. Brad Thomas, the House sponsor of the bill, argued that the bill is narrowly tailored to catch purposely deceptive speech and contains a carveout for constitutionally protected speech including satire, parody, works of art and journalism.

“I want to make it clear, First Amendment-protected speech, such as satire and parody, as listed on line 56 – aka memes – are explicitly written as not applying to this bill,” Thomas said.

Dunwoody Democratic Rep. Long Tran said bad actors are already using cutting-edge tech to deceptively influence elections, referencing a bit of infamous audio from last year’s election.

“Just a year ago, we saw in New Hampshire, during the New Hampshire presidential primary, a voice robocall went out to Democratic voters that imitated President Joe Biden’s voice and told Democratic voters not to call out and vote,” he said. “And that is the danger that AI poses today.”

A similar bill passed the House last year but fell short in the Senate over free speech concerns. Thomas said he worked since the 2024 legislative session to shore up any of those concerns, but not every legislator felt assured.

“This isn’t freedom, it’s Soviet-style control,” said Woodstock Republican Rep. Charlice Byrd. “SB 9 could jail you for so-called deception, exposing corruption on felony charges up to five years. We already have deception laws for lies that harm. This is silencing dissent, plain and simple. If it passes, Georgia becomes like California, dissenters in handcuffs.”

The 12 lawmakers opposed to the bill included members of both parties.

Lilburn Democratic Rep. Jasmine Clark, who voted against the bill, said she thinks it should go further than the 90-day window before an election.

“My concern would be if a campaign that is very well-funded has 300 days – or whatever 365 minus 90 is, I don’t feel like doing math – they have that many days to make deceptive materials about you, and then there’s just a 90-day moratorium,’ she said. “How do you undo that damage?

Because it was amended, the bill will need to return to the Senate for a final vote before it can land on Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk. The deadline for that to happen is April 4, the last day of the 2025 legislative session.

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.