(LEX 18) — Secretary of State Michael Adams asked lawmakers on the Artificial Intelligence Taskforce to consider passing a law that would make it illegal to impersonate an election official in Kentucky.
"We have laws that prohibit impersonating a police officer - and for very good reason. But it should be equally illegal for someone to pretend to be me, or a county clerk, or someone on the State Board of Elections and be putting out false information about the elections," Adams told reporters after the Monday meeting.
Why election officials? These are the people across Kentucky trusted to share accurate information about elections. Voters need to be able to trust that the information coming from these sources is true, according to Adams.
Adams' legislation request came as lawmakers are considering the impact artificial intelligence has on elections and other things in Kentucky.
He spoke about the confusion that was caused before New Hampshire's last primary when a fake robocall mimicked President Joe Biden's voice. According to audio obtained by CNN, voters were encouraged to not vote in the primary election.
"It's important that you save your vote for the November election," the fake call said.
"Voting this Tuesday only enables Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again," the fake call also said.
Legal action has resulted from the fake call in New Hampshire.
"Fortunately, New Hampshire has laws that prohibit this practice and this person's being prosecuted, but we don't have a law like that," said Adams. "So, we need to get caught up."
Adams also presented lawmakers with three different AI-generated speeches on Monday. His team tasked AI to write "testimony from Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams on the impact of artificial intelligence on elections."
The speeches, which were not written or delivered by Adams, touch on topics Adams often speaks about, like election security and ensuring integrity in our democratic processes.
The AI-generated speeches would be able to pass as something an election official has said, according to Adams.
"They weren't quite as nerdy as I am, but they looked like they could have been written by someone who does what I do for a living," said Adams. "They wrote at a level of speech, at a level of expertise that people who have my job in various states have."
"Anyone could have read this - my own mom could have read one of these AI generated versions of my remarks today and believed it was me," he added.
