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Comment by mattw2121 | Hacker News Reader

I understand and appreciate your point, but I would like to point out there is a large segment of society that, if shown an article from The Onion, wouldn't realize it is satire.

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I think it's okay for The Onion to make satirical news reports, but maybe not okay to make a realistic deep-fake of someone. An actor could dress and act like that person though.

Would this be allowed:

https://www.theonion.com/frail-emaciated-mlb-players-still-a...

In case you aren't a baseball fan, that's a photoshopped image of baseball player Cory Seager.

I was maybe on Buttons side but your checkmate won me over.

What about a comedian who does voice impressions that are good enough to be indistinguishable from the politician to the average person?

If the comedian starts using that ability to make people think the politician said something they didn't say, then the comedian is guilty of fraud.

Also, "humans can do it" is not a reason to allow AI to do the same thing. GenAI systems can do things at high speed 24 hours a day forever and the fraud potential is much much much higher.

> then the comedian is guilty of fraud

Fraud

wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain

What's the personal gain here?

Thought experiment: If I steal someone else's credit card to buy things (example from FindLaw [1]) that I won't use just to harm my victim, would I be committing fraud? Or would only the non-fraud charges apply?

[1] https://www.findlaw.com/criminal/criminal-charges/fraud.html

Don't trust findlaw.com or a dictionary definition. It doesn't matter if you personally gain. Here is the actual text of the US federal fraud statute [1]

"....obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises....."

[1] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1341

Thats not fraud thats just lying. lying is legal.

And those peoples' votes matter no less than yours.

Misinformation is very dangerous in a democracy, especially when it is easier to sow than real information.

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