Deepfakes are non-consensually AI-generated voices, images or videos that are created to produce sexual imagery, commit fraud, or spread misinformation. Between 2022 and 2023, deepfake sexual content increased by over 400%, and deepfake fraud increased by 3000%, even as deepfakes are poised to threaten democratic elections in countries across the world.

In February 2024, we launched a public campaign – the Campaign to Ban Deepfakes – supported by a diverse coalition including AI expert organizations such as Control AI and the Center for Human Compatible Artificial Intelligence, organizations representing actors and artists such as SAG-AFTRA, and women’s rights organizations such as the National Organization for Women, grassroots student movements like Encode Justice, and many other partners including Plan International, Christian Partnership, Equality Now, the Women's Media Center, and Wave.

Our politically diverse coalition is representative of the near-unanimous concern expressed by Americans about deepfakes – according to polling by the Pew Research Center, 77% of the American public is in favor of regulations to restrict the creation and use of deepfakes.

As part of this campaign, we have also conducted extensive legal analysis of the several bills introduced in Congress, offering policy recommendations and feedback to ensure that Congressional action to combat this problem is effective by focusing on the core cause of the problem – holding developers of models which enable these deepfakes accountable.

You can find our legal and policy analysis, and details on our public campaign below.

For questions regarding our work in this space, invitations and opportunities for collaboration, please reach out to policy@futureoflife.org.