Colorado investigates potential deepfake law violation

The Colorado Secretary of State’s office is investigating a potential violation of the state’s deepfake disclosure law following a complaint by State Senator Cathy Kipp. The complaint, filed against the Independence Institute, alleges that an AI-generated video posted to social media fails to meet legal disclosure requirements for content featuring political candidates within 90 days of a general election.

The 45-second video depicts Senator Kipp, a Democrat and sponsor of Proposition NN, as a grocery store clerk refusing to return a customer's change to fund education. While the video contains a brief, three-second disclaimer regarding AI content, Kipp alleges it violates the 2024 law, which requires disclosures to be a similar size to other text in the content and include information about the AI tool used.

Proposition NN is a tax-related measure on the upcoming November ballot that would allow the state to redirect more tax revenue to public education, bypassing certain restrictions of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). The Independence Institute is a prominent opponent of the measure.