As the 2024 election year kicks off with the New Hampshire primary, artificial intelligence is at the forefront of possible voter suppression tactics.  It's been reported that President Joe Biden's voice has been re-created using AI technology, resulting in a deep fake robocall that is encouraging Democratic voters to stay home and not vote in today's primary election in New Hampshire.

We've seen deep fakes be an issue for celebrities (for instance, read more here about Tom Hanks disavowing an AI generated version of himself used for a dental company's ad), but now the use of AI on a political figure to suppress votes illustrates that there may be larger implications for misuse of AI during an election year. This underscores the concerns of use of AI and the need for shifts in rights of publicity laws to accommodate the changing technology.  Education is also needed to teach the public the signs of AI-generated content and how to approach content with more scrutiny so that users double check whether the content is a genuine endorsement from a public figure or not. With the advent of AI, rights of publicity laws must catch up to better protect the unsuspecting public from the misuse of a public figure's name, voice, likeness, and other characteristics.