A proposal to require public disclosure whenever a political campaign in the state uses false information generated by artificial intelligence in a campaign advertisement gained approval from the New Mexico House of Representatives on Monday night.

After about an hour of debate, the House voted 38-28 to pass House Bill 182, which would amend the state’s Campaign Reporting Act to require political campaigns to disclose whenever they use artificial intelligence in their ads, and would make it a crime to use artificially-generated ads to intentionally deceive voters.

The bill’s latest version passed by the House specifies the disclaimer’s exact wording that must be present when AI is used for any campaign material. That disclaimer must read, “This (image/video/audio) has been manipulated or generated by artificial intelligence.”

To become law, HB 182 would still need to go through the committee process in the Senate, then a full Senate vote before the session adjourns at noon on Feb. 15. Then it would need to be signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

The bill would not entirely prohibit using artificial intelligence in campaign ads, however.

Candidates running for office in New Mexico must disclose whenever they knowingly publish a deceptive ad within three months of an election with the intent of changing voters’ behavior. If they don’t, the proposal would make publishing the ad a misdemeanor and penalties would increase for additional violations.

HB 182 got the go-ahead from the House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee on Jan. 31. Eight days later, the House Judiciary Committee amended the proposal to further narrow the crime it creates to exclude things like media coverage of fake ads.

The committee clarified platforms like a radio station, newspaper, Facebook or Google would not violate the law if they publish, post or distribute fake ads so long as they tell the ad’s creator about the disclaimer requirement. House Majority Floor Leader Gail Chasey (D-Albuquerque), the bill’s sponsor, said that change came after she spoke to representatives from Google about the bill.

“The distributor, if you will — whoever is putting this together professionally — just has to have a policy that reflects our law, letting its customers know that this is not allowed,” Chasey told the House. “If the individual doesn’t follow the policy that the platform has adopted, then it’s the individual who is liable if they don’t follow the law.”

It’s not up to the platform to police ads, Chasey said, but rather the person harmed by the ad must complain to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office, which would then either refer the issue to the state Ethics Commission or the New Mexico Department of Justice.

The Ethics Commission can also bring their own case against someone under the Campaign Reporting Act, she said.

The version amended out of the Judiciary Committee also requires the disclaimers be in the same language as the ad itself, such as Spanish or Diné, she said.

Rep. James Townsend (R-Artesia) asked if it would have been easier to simply eliminate the use of AI in campaign ads altogether but Chasey said no, because that would violate the First Amendment right to free speech.

“It just seems like we are setting up a very slippery slope for anyone who uses information that they may gather off of the web,” Townsend said. “It’s going to cause a lot of problems and most of the things that will be accused of being wrong, the election will be long gone and over, the damage will be done, before this is ever decided.”

If someone uses AI to depict someone doing something they didn’t actually do, what’s called a “deepfake,” then there must be a disclaimer, Chasey said.

“We’re not saying you can’t say it,” she said.

At least four other states including Michigan have passed similar legislation, Chasey said. Other states have tried to address deepfakes in different ways, she added.

Over half the states in the country are considering similar legislation, according to a bill tracker run by Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group that supports Chasey’s bill.