A new poll conducted by the Artificial Intelligence Policy Institute (AIPI) shows that the American public supports legislation to outlaw individuals and companies from creating AI-generated pornography by a 4:1 margin and that 86% of voters support regulation that would require companies to restrict AI models from creating deepfake pornography.  

This survey—conducted on Jan. 26 and Jan. 27—demonstrates the growing public outcry about artificial intelligence and support for public policy interventions cracking down on AI-generated pornography. 

Some key findings from the poll:

• 84% of voters supported legislation making non-consensual deepfake porn illegal, while 86% supported legislation requiring companies to restrict models to prevent their use in creating deepfake porn.
• 91% of Americans believe individuals who use models to create deepfake porn should be held legally liable and 87% believe companies creating AI models for deepfake porn should be held liable.
• 84% say the Taylor Swift pornographic deep fakes created by “Celeb Jihad” increase their concern about artificial intelligence 

About the Poll 

The survey was conducted online on Jan. 26 and Jan. 27, and contained a survey of 975 voters. The poll was conducted in English and its margin of error is  ± 4.4. See the poll toplines here and crosstabs here.

About The Artificial Intelligence Policy Institute

The Artificial Intelligence Policy Institute is an AI policy and research think tank founded by Daniel Colson to advocate for ethical oversight of AI for mitigating potential catastrophic risks posed by AI. AIPI’s core mission is to demonstrate that the general public has valid concerns about the future of AI and is looking for regulation and guidance from their elected representatives. If politicians want to represent the American people effectively, they must act aggressively to regulate AI’s next phases of development. AIPI seeks to work with the media and policymakers to inform them of the risks of artificial intelligence and develop policies that mitigate risks from emerging technology while still benefiting from artificial intelligence.

While much of the public discussion has been oriented around AI’s potential to take away jobs, AIPI will be focused on centering the importance of policies designed to prevent catastrophic outcomes and mitigate the risk of extinction. Currently, most of the AI space comprises those with a vested interest in advancing AI or are academics. The AI space lacks an organization to both gauge and shape public opinion on the issues—as well as to recommend legislation on the matter— and AIPI will fill that role. 

Ultimately, policymakers are political actors, so the country needs an institution that can speak the language of public opinion sentiment. AIPI’s mission is about being able to channel how Americans feel about artificial intelligence and pressure lawmakers to take action.

AIPI will build relationships with lawmakers by using polling to establish AIPI as a subject matter expert on AI safety and policy issues. Politicians are incentivized to support AI slowdown policies due to the strong majority of voters supporting slowdown and regulation. But AI is currently less salient as a political issue than other topics, as so far, there have only been moderate impacts from emerging AI tech. 

AI technological advancement is and will continue to be an evolving situation, and politicians, the media, and everyday Americans need real-time information to make sense of it all. AIPI’s polling will show where people stand on new developments and provide crucial policy recommendations for policymakers.