FPPC panel examines limits of AI detectors, endorses provenance and standards for AB 2355 compliance

The Fair Political Practices Commission’s (FPPC) Public Outreach and Technology Committee on April 22, 2025, convened a panel of academics and industry vendors to discuss how to detect and disclose campaign advertisements created or modified with artificial intelligence under California’s new AB 2355 requirement. Chair Silver opened the meeting saying, “AI is the defining issue of our time,” and framed the panel as part of the commission’s effort to implement the statute and protect public trust.

The committee heard three technical approaches: (1) automated detection models, (2) cryptographic provenance and content-credential systems, and (3) expert human forensics. Each speaker described strengths and limits and recommended a combined, staged approach for enforcement.

Professor James O’Brien, a computer science professor at UC Berkeley, emphasized technical limits on automated detection and described an ongoing arms race between generators and detectors. “I’m personally not a very big fan of these” [automated detectors] as a sole solution, O’Brien said, arguing that statistical and visible artifacts detectors may work today but will…