TSE to Rule on Bolsonaro AI Avatar and Establish Deepfake Guidelines

The President of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Kassio Nunes Marques, has scheduled a judgment for next Tuesday, October 1, regarding an AI generated video of former President Jair Bolsonaro. The action, brought by the PT party, questions a video shown at a PL convention in July featuring an AI avatar of Bolsonaro supporting Senator Flávio Bolsonaro for the presidency. The court is expected to use this case to establish a general thesis and parameters for the use of artificial intelligence in electoral campaigns that will apply to all similar pending cases.

During the session, ministers will determine the criteria to distinguish between prohibited deepfakes and permitted synthetic content, such as animations or caricatures. Minister André Mendonça has proposed a thesis suggesting that the deciding factor should be the degree of realism and whether the content is capable of deceiving the voter into perceiving it as authentic. While current TSE resolutions require the labeling of AI content, they do not explicitly prohibit all forms of AI in propaganda. The court must now decide if a broad prohibition on all AI avatars is necessary to avoid excessive litigation.

Legal representatives for Flávio Bolsonaro argue that the video was properly labeled and lacked the potential to deceive. Meanwhile, the PT argues that the video violates electoral norms. The court will also debate whether the use of the avatar warrants punishment for the senator and whether a party convention constitutes an act of campaign propaganda.