With Daniel Lippman

POLITICAL CONSULTANTS SEEK TO BAN AI ADS: The trade association representing Washington political consultants wants to curb the use of “deep fakes” in political advertising before it gets the chance to take off, as political campaigns become the latest space scrambling to respond to the proliferation of AI technology.

— On Wednesday, the American Association of Political Consultants announced that its board of directors had voted unanimously to formally denounce the practice at the association’s annual conference last month.

— “We want to be out in front on that, to make it clear that that is not something that benefits the voters ultimately,” said Larry Huynh, a partner at the digital firm Trilogy Interactive and a vice president on AAPC’s board. “Lying to the voters is not something that we believe is good for democracy and good for campaigns.”

— The association isn’t opposed to the use of generative AI altogether, Huynh said. AAPC’s conference last month in Southern California featured panels on the use of OpenAI’s ChatGPT software, for instance, and Hunyh told PI that there are plenty of potential upsides of the use of AI in campaigns, especially for smaller or newer campaigns that might be strapped for cash and resources. “AI and generative AI — it’s here to stay,” he said. “We understand that.”

— The move by AAPC came following the RNC’s use of AI in a video response to President Joe Biden’s reelection announcement last month. The video portrays a dystopian future America under a second term of the Biden administration, and could be the most high-profile use of the technology by a political group. Huynh denied that AAPC’s new policy on “deep fakes” had anything to do with any specific piece of content.

— The policy statement defines deep fake imagery as “synthetic, computer-generated video, stills, or audio elements derived from a person’s likeness, voice, or image that is so near realistic that it is intended to lead voters to deceptive conclusions alternative to reality about a candidate, party, or issue,” and warns that it will use a “broad standard to review, condemn, and, if necessary, sanction its members” for violating the policy.

— Ads featuring generative AI are now barred from being eligible for one of the group’s Pollie Awards, and AAPC is also in discussions with platforms that feature political ads regarding the group’s call for advertisers to reject ads featuring deep fake imagery, Huynh told PI.

— While the use of satire and impersonation have long had places in political advertising, such strategies typically are “presented with the audience being fully aware and ‘in on the joke,’” AAPC’s policy statement says.

— “It is just that when you cross into that area … where you’re creating a belief in the viewer, in the voter, that something happened that absolutely never happened — words like that were never spoken by the individual, they were never in that context, or that video with them around certain ‘bad’ people,” that imitation strays into the danger zone, Huynh argued.

— The group is also warning that including disclaimers about the use of AI-generated deep fake imagery — like the one in the RNC’s video — or deploying the technology for nonadvertising purposes as part of a campaign won’t get its members off the hook. “The intent to to lie, and to lie to the voters is still there,” Huynh said, which is a violation of AAPC’s code of ethics.

Happy Thursday and welcome to PI. Send lobbying tips and gossip: [email protected]. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

AI, SO HOT RIGHT NOW: Policymakers throughout Washington are finally beginning to turn to the proliferation of AI in everyday life as well. The White House rolled out several new policies related to AI and hosted top business leaders for a roundtable on the issue today that included OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

— The discussion on “responsible AI innovation,” which was hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris and other administration officials, featured a surprise appearance from Biden, and came a day after FTC Chair Lina Khan laid out her thinking on reining in the technology in an op-ed for The New York Times.

— On Capitol Hill, a flurry of proposals are being put forward, POLITICO’s Brendan Bordelon and Mohar Chatterjee write, but there’s one holdup: Nobody “agrees on what to do about AI, how to do it — or even why.”

— “‘AI is one of those things that kind of moved along at 10 miles an hour, and suddenly now is 100, going on 500 miles an hour,’ House Science Chair Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) told POLITICO.”

— The technology is one of the rare spaces in which the would-be regulated community is pushing for new rules, but it’s also running up against a major knowledge gap among those who would be crafting and voting on the regulations and further hampered by “a substantive split among lawmakers who have been thinking closely about AI regulation,” Brendan and Mohar write.

ANNALS OF ‘FUNDRAISING …?’: “When Herschel Walker emailed a representative for billionaire industrialist and longtime family friend Dennis Washington in March 2022, he seemed to be engaging in normal behavior for a political candidate: He was asking for money. But unbeknownst to Washington and the billionaire’s staff, Walker’s request was far more out of the ordinary,” The Daily Beast’s Roger Sollenberger reports.

— “It was something campaign finance experts are calling ‘unprecedented,’ ‘stunning’ and ‘jaw-dropping.’ Walker wasn’t just asking for donations to his campaign; he was soliciting hundreds of thousands of dollars for his own personal company — a company that he never disclosed on his financial statements.”

— “Emails obtained by The Daily Beast — and verified as authentic by a person with knowledge of the exchanges — show that Walker asked Washington to wire $535,200 directly to that undisclosed company, HR Talent, LLC. And the emails reveal that not only did Washington complete Walker’s wire requests, he was under the impression that these were, in fact, political contributions.”

FLYING IN: Educators from across the country are flooding the Hill today and tomorrow as part of a lobbying blitz from the National Education Association to support Julie Su’s nomination for Labor secretary. Teachers are set to meet with members or staff from at least half the chamber to press her case, the union said.

— Meanwhile CEOs from small and midsize life insurers and members of the American Council of Life Insurers met today with Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) to discuss improving families’ financial security and closing retirement savings gaps.

ICYMI — FTC GOES AFTER META ... AGAIN: “The Federal Trade Commission is looking to up the ante against Meta for ongoing privacy violations, saying the company has failed to live up to its settlement following the Cambridge Analytica scandal,” POLITICO’s Josh Sisco and Alfred Ng report.

— “In a statement, the FTC said Meta ‘misled parents about their ability to control with whom their children communicated through its Messenger Kids app, and misrepresented the access it provided some app developers to private user data.’ Among the FTC’s proposals is a blanket ban on profiting from data of users under the age of 18. This would potentially cut off all targeted advertising to teens on its platforms.”

— “Meta has been under FTC scrutiny for more than a dozen years over its privacy practices, resulting in a settlement in 2012 that required it to strengthen user privacy. In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica Scandal when the British political consultant improperly accessed user data from the company then known as Facebook, the company agreed to pay a $5 billion fine in 2020 and to once again strengthen its privacy practices.”

— Meta will have 30 days to respond to the agency’s move, which commissioners must consider “before issuing a final decision, which Meta can appeal to any circuit court in the country. Wednesday’s action is a ‘political stunt,’ Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a statement. ‘Despite three years of continual engagement with the FTC around our agreement, they provided no opportunity to discuss this new, totally unprecedented theory.’”

Jobs Report

SPOTTED at the opening of Underwriters Laboratories Standards & Engagement’s D.C. office on Wednesday, per a tipster: Consumer Product Safety Commission Chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric, Jay Timmons of the National Association of Manufacturers, Megan Pollock of Panasonic North America and David Steel of UL Standards & Engagement.

— Faith Vander Voort has joined RBW Group as vice president of public affairs. She was most recently managing director of media affairs at TAG Strategies.

— Katherine Borg Hoffman is now scheduler for Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.). She most recently was associate for external affairs at the Global Business Alliance.

— Veteran public interest advocate and former FCC commissioner nominee Gigi Sohn will start in June as executive director of the American Association for Public Broadband, Morning Tech reports.

— Kay Kim is now chief practice innovation officer at Paul Hastings. She most recently was director of practice innovation at Simpson Thacher.

— Shelby Adams is now special assistant in the office of legislative and intergovernmental affairs at the Department of Commerce. She most recently was a social justice fellow at the Memorial Foundation.

— Caitlin Krutsick has joined Waxman Strategies as director of health communications. She was most recently a director with Crosscut Strategies and is a Bipartisan Policy Center alum.

New Joint Fundraisers

Jordan Freedom Fund (Rep. Jim Jordan, House Freedom Fund, Buckeye Liberty Political Action Committee)

New PACs

None.

New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Navajo Nation
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP Obo Washington University In St. Louis
Capitol Tax Partners, LLP: Legalzoom.Com, Inc.
Fierce Government Relations: Kore Power, Inc.
Mr. Thomas Marquez: Freedom Flight Works
Mr. Thomas Marquez: Six Maritime
Ms. Karen Johnson: Potomac Strategic,LLC On Behalf Of Kids In Need Foundation
Ms. Karen Johnson: Potomac Strategic,LLC On Behalf Of Save The Children
Park Strategies, LLC: Kinexion, Inc.
Sorini, Samet & Associates, LLC: Consorcio Azucarero De Empresas Industriales (Caei)
The Chesterbrook Group: Citizens For A Secure And Safe America
Winning Strategies Washington: Mid-Atlantic Center For The Arts

New Lobbying Terminations

Akerman LLP: City Of Shelbyville, Tennessee
Ample Inc: Ample Inc
City Of Dillingham: City Of Dillingham
Etihad Airways Pjsc: Etihad Airways Pjsc
Fti Government Affairs: Elite Flower Services Inc
Haley & Associates: North American Blueberry Council
Haley & Associates: North American Blueberry Council
Haynes And Boone, LLP: Quebec Border Mills Committee
Hbw Resources: Association Of Energy Service Companies
Hbw Resources: Fluxergy, LLC
H&M Strategies LLP: Neurological Surgery, Pc
Hodgkins Consulting, LLC: Dell Technologies
Kiko Strategies Inc.: American Civil Liberties Union
Monument Strategies, LLC: Association Of Catastrophe Adjusters
Mr. Charles Monfort: Incorporated Research Institutions For Seismology
Mr. Doyce Boesch: Zeroeyes
Orion Strategies: Edf Renewables Development, Inc.
Park Strategies, LLC: Brookfield Property Group, LLC
Peduzzi Associates, Ltd.: Innovative Solutions & Support
Peduzzi Associates, Ltd.: Pilatus Business Aircraft
The Color Nine Group, LLC: Munder Difflin, LLC

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