This bill establishes a national campaign, managed by the Secretary of Commerce, to educate the public on how artificial intelligence works, how to spot AI-generated content, and how to protect themselves from related fraud.
Todd Young
Senator
IN
This bill establishes the Artificial Intelligence Public Awareness and Education Campaign Act to launch a national effort aimed at increasing public understanding of how AI is used daily. The campaign, led by the Secretary of Commerce, will focus on boosting consumer literacy regarding AI's capabilities, limitations, and associated risks like deepfakes and fraud. It mandates the development of accessible, multi-lingual educational materials and requires annual reporting on the campaign's success metrics for five years.
New AI Education Act Requires Government to Teach Public How to Spot Deepfakes and AI Scams
The Artificial Intelligence Public Awareness and Education Campaign Act is essentially a call for the federal government to start teaching the public about AI. The bill tasks the Secretary of Commerce with creating a national "AI Campaign" within 180 days of the law taking effect. The core goal? To boost "AI consumer literacy"—meaning people should understand what AI is, what it does, and how to use it safely.
This isn’t just a general awareness push. The campaign has specific homework. It needs to explain common AI uses (like route planning apps and automated business decisions) and, crucially, teach people how to spot media that has been heavily altered or created by AI, such as deepfakes. Think of it as a national crash course in digital BS detection. The campaign also has to produce materials tailored for specific contexts like personal finance and healthcare, and coordinate targeted fraud protection outreach to groups most likely to be scammed, like senior citizens.
The Real-World AI Literacy Push
What does this mean for someone working a 9-to-5 or running a small business? It means the government is finally recognizing that AI isn't just a tech industry problem; it’s an everyday reality affecting everything from your job application to your bank account. For example, if you’re a small business owner, the Secretary must consult with the Small Business Administration (SBA) to ensure you get relevant information on how AI might affect your operations or how to protect your data. If you’re just trying to figure out if that viral video of a politician is real, the campaign is mandated to provide resources and tools to help you determine if it’s an AI-generated fake.
The Unfunded Mandate Catch
While the goal is solid, there’s a major catch: the bill explicitly states that this section does not authorize any new money for these activities. The Secretary of Commerce has to launch a massive, multi-lingual, multi-platform national campaign, coordinate with NIST, NTIA, the SBA, and numerous other experts, track its success with annual Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and update all materials yearly—all using existing agency budgets. This is a huge lift. If the agencies can’t scrape together enough resources, the campaign could end up being a low-budget, low-impact effort that fails to reach the people who need it most, especially those who aren't already digitally savvy.
The Clock Is Ticking
To keep pace with the hyper-speed of AI development, the campaign materials and the metrics used to measure success must be updated every year. This is a smart requirement, ensuring the information doesn't become outdated before it even hits the airwaves. However, this entire effort is temporary: the AI Campaign is set to automatically end five years after the law is enacted. This creates a hard deadline for the government to get the public educated before the funding mechanism, whatever it is, disappears. In short, this bill aims to give people the tools to navigate the AI world safely, but its success hinges entirely on agencies figuring out how to pay for a massive new program without a single new dollar allocated.