Law bans fake AI ads in elections to stop fraud
S. 5135 — AI Ads Act · Filed by Adam Schiff (D-CA) · Introduced Jul 27, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
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What it does
The bill makes it illegal to use AI to create fake campaign ads. These ads trick people about who is running for office or asking for money. It stops anyone from doing this, not only candidates. It also covers fake groups made up to spread false ads.
Who it affects
Voters get protection from AI deepfakes and fake videos. These are made to fool them about campaigns or steal money.
One thing to notice
The bill does not say exactly what counts as AI-generated content. This could make it hard for prosecutors to prove someone broke the law.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Jul 27, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jul 27, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Rules and Administration · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- AI-generated content — Text, images, or videos made by artificial intelligence software, not by a human.
- deepfakes — Fake videos or audio made to look like a real person said or did something they did not.
- campaign ads — Messages paid for by candidates or groups to get votes or money for elections.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,981 characters) on Jul 31, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
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