Remember the 2016 election? All our social media feeds were flooded with misinformation and disinformation designed to limit the political power of Black communities across the country. We were targeted by bots, outside influences and ads meant to discourage us from voting and exercising our rights as citizens, resulting in an election outcome that was made possible by concerted efforts to keep Black voters out of the democratic process.

Unregulated artificial intelligence (AI) is making this kind of voter suppression a reality once again. Only in 2024, it’s even more sophisticated due to hyper-realistic images, videos and audio. AI-generated deepfakes — fake images, videos and audio — have been used to create content that seeks to spread manipulated information and undermine public trust in our elections. 

Color Of Change is calling on AI companies to take immediate action to stop this. Our demands are simple. These companies must:

• Direct people to verifiable sources for election information;
• Ban generative AI from being used to create election-related deepfake content;
• Continuously refine filters for election falsehoods and impose limits to make it more difficult to create disinformation campaigns; 
• Work alongside social media platforms to enforce stricter policies against deepfake dissemination and other forms of AI-driven disinformation, including stronger labeling requirements; and
• Commit to working transparently with civil rights groups to better understand threats to Black communities and to collaborate on solutions.

Together, we can hold AI companies accountable and protect our democracy. Sign the petition to hold AI companies accountable!

Here is the Petition:

Dear AI company CEOs,

Unregulated artificial intelligence (AI) is creating a new frontier of voter suppression. AI-generated deepfakes have been used to create content that seeks to spread manipulated information and undermine public trust in our elections. By not being responsive to election-related concerns around deepfakes and election misinformation, companies like yours are playing a dangerous game that, if continued, could lead to catastrophic effects on our democracy. 

That’s why we, as U.S. voters, are demanding that you take immediate action to address your company’s role in facilitating misinformation.

Our demands are simple. Your company must:

• Direct people to verifiable sources for election information;
• Ban generative AI from being used to create election-related deepfake content;
• Continuously refine filters for election falsehoods and impose limits to make it more difficult to create disinformation campaigns; 
• Work alongside social media platforms to enforce stricter policies against deepfake dissemination and other forms of AI-driven disinformation, including stronger labeling requirements; and
• Commit to working transparently with civil rights groups to better understand threats to Black communities and to collaborate on solutions.

As leaders in this frontier, you must do what is necessary to protect democracy from the threat of deepfakes and misinformation that is generated on your platform. 

Thank you.