A bipartisan group of senators has recently introduced a bill aimed at simplifying the authentication and detection of artificially intelligence-generated content. Additionally, the bill seeks to protect journalists and artists from having their work utilized by AI models without their consent. The proposed legislation, known as the Content Origin Protection and Integrity from Edited and Deepfaked Media Act (COPIED Act), would task the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) with developing standards and guidelines that would help establish the origin of content and identify synthetic content, potentially through the use of watermarking techniques. The bill also requires NIST to establish security measures to prevent tampering and mandates that AI tools designed for creative or journalistic content enable users to attach information about the content's origin while making sure that this information cannot be removed. Moreover, the bill would prohibit the use of such content to train AI models. Under the COPIED Act, content owners such as broadcasters, artists, and newspapers would have the ability to take legal action against companies they believe have used their materials without authorization or tampered with authentication markers.

Both state attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission would also have the authority to enforce the bill, which explicitly forbids the removal, disabling, or tampering with content origin information. Some exceptions are made for security research purposes. This bill is part of a broader effort in the Senate to better understand and regulate AI technology, resulting in the introduction of various AI-related bills. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has led the charge in creating an AI roadmap for the chamber, although he has stressed that new laws will be developed through individual committees. The COPIED Act benefits from strong sponsorship, as it is supported by Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA), along with Senate AI Working Group member Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Commerce Committee member Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). Numerous publishing and artists' groups have expressed their support for the bill, including SAG-AFTRA, the Recording Industry Association of America, the News/Media Alliance, and the Artist Rights Alliance, among others.