A new bill introduced in the House of Representatives on Monday is aimed at making sure American consumers know the difference between fantasy and reality online by cracking down on generative artificial intelligence technology. 

Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., is leading the effort on the AI Disclosure Act of 2023, which would force AI-generated content to include the disclaimer, ‘Disclaimer: this output has been generated by artificial intelligence.’

In a statement announcing the bill, Torres predicted that ‘regulatory framework for managing the existential risks of AI will be one of the central challenges confronting Congress in the years and decades to come.’

He noted risks in going too far with policing AI as well as not regulating it enough.

‘The simplest place to start is disclosure. All generative AI – whether the content it generates is text or images, video or audio – should be required to disclose itself as AI,’ Torres said. ‘Disclosure is by no means a magic bullet but it’s a commonsense starting point to what will surely be a long road to regulation.’

His bill, if passed, would give the Federal Trade Commission oversight over the new rule. 

And there appears to be an appetite on both sides of the aisle for promoting transparency in AI content.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., one of the GOP’s leading voices on AI in the House, said Torres bill was not the ‘best solution’ but agreed that Americans need to be informed if the content they are viewing, particularly as the 2024 presidential cycle heats up, is real or fake. 

‘AI has the ability to revolutionize the way we live and can be a valuable tool in our arsenal for national security. However, as we continue to witness the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, it is crucial that we prioritize transparency and accountability,’ Mace told Fox News Digital.’

‘The American people deserve to know when they are interacting with AI-generated content, especially in politics where there is an easy ability to manufacture content which can be used to mislead people,’ she added.

‘While this particular bill may not be the best solution, by requiring a disclaimer for AI content, we empower users to make informed decisions about the information they consume.’

AI generated content has already had a test-run in the current election season. Former President Donald Trump shared an AI-made video parodying Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2024 announcement on Twitter Spaces. 

Rather than the thousands of listeners who tuned in to hear DeSantis speak, Trump’s video included DeSantis with guests Dick Cheney, Adolph Hitler, the FBI, George Soros and others. 

And just last month, an AI-made image depicting the Pentagon suffering an explosion went viral on the internet and even appeared to cause a brief dip in the stock market.

Six months before Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis officially announced his presidential campaign, former President Trump launched his war of words against the rising conservative, enraging Republicans for launching his offensive just three days before the crucial midterm elections.

Trump’s attacks failed to make a dent in Florida’s support for DeSantis, and while Republicans went on to underperform on the national level, losing the U.S. Senate and only retaking the House by a few seats, DeSantis cruised to an historic 19-point win in Florida, a onetime battleground state.

DeSantis managed to stay out of the mudslinging until only recently, and since DeSantis officially announced his candidacy for president on May 24, both campaigns have ramped up their criticism of the other. The Trump campaign, however, has been repeatedly accused by the other of creating false narratives about DeSantis’ policies. 

A recent New York Post report found that Twitter accounts affiliated with Trump’s campaign had community notes adding context to their tweets on at least seven occasions throughout the month of May, while those associated with DeSantis were not slapped with any community notes.

Here are five examples of when Trump and his campaign’s claims about DeSantis have contradicted reality:

COVID-19:

Earlier this year, Trump dubbed DeSantis the ‘lockdown governor,’ even though the governor’s restrictions were among the least heavy-handed – and short-lived – in the country.

‘Ron DeSanctimonious wants to cut your Social Security and Medicare,’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social site in February, ‘closed up Florida & its beaches, loves RINOS Paul Ryan, Jeb Bush, and Karl Rove (disasters ALL!), is backed by Globalist’s Club for NO Growth, Lincoln Pervert Project, & ‘Uninspired’ Koch — And it only gets worse from there.’ 

‘Surprise, Ron was a big Lockdown Governor on the China Virus, sealing all beaches and everything else for an extended period of time, was Third Worst in the Nation for COVID-19 Deaths (losing 86,294 People), Third Worst for Total # of Cases, at 7,516,906. Other Republican Governors did MUCH BETTER than Ron and, because I allowed them this ‘freedom,’ never closed their States,’ Trump wrote in March.

However, Trump’s narrative leaves out some very key details. The former president’s own lockdown guidance predated DeSantis’ first and only stay-at-home order in Florida. On March 16, 2020, then-President Trump and his White House Coronavirus Task Force leader, Dr. Anthony Fauci, unveiled their ’15 Days to Slow the Spread’ plan, which recommended that governors shut down schools, restaurants and other public places. While many states closed almost immediately, DeSantis waited more than two weeks to issue his stay-at-home order on April 1, 2020, which lasted a total of 30 days and never returned.

DeSantis has since vowed that the state would never lock down again, and that one of his biggest regrets was not pushing back against the Trump administration’s recommendations.

Trump came under fire last month after he claimed disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ‘did better’ in his COVID-19 response despite Cuomo’s infamous nursing home scandal.

DeSantis pushed back calling the attack ‘very bizarre.’

While Florida had a vastly different approach to the pandemic than lockdown-heavy states like New York, the death rate in Florida remained on par with those states, even after the Delta variant surge in 2021. Today, Florida’s death rate is still on par with New York’s and even lower than lockdown-heavy states like Michigan and New Jersey, despite the Sunshine State holding one of the largest elderly populations in the country, second only to Maine.

Before they became political rivals, Trump repeatedly fawned over DeSantis’ pandemic response and for being one of the first to reopen his state, calling him ‘one of the greatest governors in our country.’

‘And now you’re at your lowest numbers,’ Trump told a crowd in Ocala on Oct. 16, 2020. ‘And you’re open, and you didn’t close.’

‘The lockdowns in Democrat run states are absolutely ruining the lives of so many people – Far more than the damage that would be caused by the China Virus,’ Trump tweeted on Dec. 26, 2020. ‘Cases in California have risen despite the lockdown, yet Florida & others are open & doing well. Common sense please!’

Christopher Wray:

Trump’s campaign falsely claimed last month that DeSantis, a former member of the House, ‘voted for’ Trump-nominated Christopher Wray to become the next FBI director in 2017.

‘DeSanctimonious is now making a show of promising to fire FBI Director Christopher Wray, but DeSantis voted FOR Wray’s confirmation in 2017, praising him as ‘talented, capable & highly respected,” the campaign wrote in a tweet, less than a week after DeSantis vowed to replace Wray if he was elected president.

The remarks quoted a 2017 tweet from DeSantis that read: ‘Christopher Wray is talented, capable & highly respected. POTUS has made an inspired choice & I look forward to working with Director Wray.’ DeSantis’ remarks at the time came in response to a tweet from Trump, who announced that he would be nominating Wray to lead the FBI. In the 2017 announcement, Trump described Wray as ‘a man of impeccable credentials.’

The Trump campaign’s Twitter account was slammed after it resurfaced DeSantis’ tweet, cropping out that he was quote tweeting Trump’s tweet praising Wray.

DeSantis served in the House from 2013 to 2018, but he did not vote in favor of Wray’s confirmation because that is a role fulfilled by Senate members, as outlined in the U.S. Constitution.

Social Security:

The Trump campaign claimed over the weekend that DeSantis ‘voted 3 times to raise the retirement age to 70.’

Both candidates have walked back their stances on Social Security reforms.

DeSantis previously criticized Trump for the Social Security attack, pointing to Trump’s 2000 book, ‘The America We Deserve,’ in which the former president argued for raising the retirement age. However, Trump has since reversed those views, repeatedly stating since at least 2015 that he does not want to increase the retirement age.

DeSantis, as a U.S. congressman representing Florida’s 6th district, had also supported proposals that would cut Social Security spending, including raising the age for eligibility of full benefits. In March, however, the governor told Fox News his stance had changed due to consideration of the large elderly population in his state.

‘Look, I have more seniors here than just about anyone as a percentage,’ he said. ‘We are not going to mess with Social Security as Republicans.’

Fair Tax Act:

Trump’s campaign also claimed over the weekend that ‘Ron DeSantis’ ‘Fair Tax Act’ would have raised taxes on working, middle-class families.’ 

While DeSantis did endorse the Fair Tax Act during his time as a congressman, which would eliminate most taxes like payroll and income in favor of a national sales tax, he has not voiced support for it as governor or as a presidential candidate.

Meanwhile, Trump repeatedly signaled he was open to the idea of a flat tax during his 2016 campaign, and several of Trump’s allies in the House cosponsored the Fair Tax Act just this year, including Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz, Byron Donalds and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

‘Stealing policy’:

The Trump campaign recently claimed DeSantis was ‘stealing policy’ from Trump after the governor said he wanted a ‘different kind of accreditation’ for colleges in the state of Florida.

‘President Trump proposed this weeks ago. DeSantis is just stealing policy now,’ Trump campaign spokesman Steve Cheung tweeted.

DeSantis did sign legislation last month that banned all state funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the state’s universities, and the legislation’s signing came two weeks after Trump said he wanted to go after the college accreditation system.

However, what the Trump campaign did not mention was that DeSantis passed legislation in April 2022 targeting what he described at the time as the ‘accreditation monopoly.’

‘They have an inordinate amount of power to shape what is going on at these universities,’ DeSantis said at the signing. ‘What this bill does here is requires diversity with the accreditations, you can’t just keep going to the same accreditor. I think that’s going to be very significant.’

DeSantis took a step further in January by mandating that all state universities report expenditures and resources used for campus activities that relate to diversity, equity, and inclusion and critical race theory initiatives. 

Honorable mention: The ‘broke down’ bus:

The DeSantis campaign busted a claim made Wednesday by Cheung that the bus for the pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down had broken down in Des Moines, Iowa.

‘SPOTTED: Tiny @RonDeSantis Super PAC bus broke down on the side of the road in Des Moines. Always Broke Down,’ Cheung wrote in a tweet, which was accompanied by an image of the bus on the side of the road.

Christina Pushaw, the rapid response director for DeSantis’ 2024 campaign, was quick to respond to Cheung’s claim and insisted that people were only ‘unloading luggage’ from the bus when he took the photo.

‘SPOTTED: Steven Cheung standing alone in the middle of the road in Des Moines. Watching people unloading luggage from a bus. . . . Wishing he could hitch a ride,’ Pushaw wrote in the tweet.

‘Sorry. Not interested in getting into the creepy Ron van no matter how much candy you offer,’ Cheung, a longtime Trump political adviser, responded.

Pushaw also called out the Trump campaign on Sunday, accusing it of tweeting a photo of a DeSantis event before it had started.

When reached by Fox News Digital, Cheung said DeSantis’ campaign ‘is built on a house of cards because they know he’s truly a puppet of the swamp.’

‘The facts are that DeSantis locked down his state, oversaw mass vaccination events, armed checkpoints, praised Fauci, voted for the First Step Act, and voted to raise the retirement age. We have the receipts,’ Cheung said. ‘The real question is why DeSantis and his team can’t answer the simple question of how to pronounce his name. If they’re having so much trouble, we have a suggestion for them — DeSanctimonious.’

The DeSantis campaign declined to respond to the Trump campaign’s latest attack.

Earlier Monday, DeSantis told Fox NewsRadio host Brian Kilmeade that the ‘frivolous’ and ‘false smears’ prove that Trump and Democrats recognize him as a threat.

‘The way I’m being attacked, Trump has run almost $20 million in ads negative attacking me, you know, with frivolous and false smears,’ he said. ‘The corporate press is attacking me more than anybody else. Democrats are attacking me. They would not do that if they didn’t think I was a threat. I mean, if they thought that I wasn’t, you know, in shape to really win this thing, they would just be ignoring me. But they’re not. They’re coming after me. I’m the one that’s taken most of the fire. And I think that’s an indication that people know that, yeah, we have what it takes and that we’re a force to be reckoned with.’

Fox News’ Kyle Morris contributed to this report.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the top Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is pressing the Department of Energy over the impact of its abrupt decision last month to pull a grant for an energy technology firm.

In a letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Monday, Barrasso expressed concern that her agency’s decision to award a $200 million grant to Microvast, an electric vehicle battery component firm, then subsequently withdraw the grant created sharp market fluctuations. According to Barrasso, Microvast’s share price surged more than 40% after the federal grant was announced in October and fell 36% after it was pulled in May.

‘It is inappropriate if not unethical that the federal government has played such an outsized role in a single company’s stock price,’ he wrote. ‘The case of Microvast exemplifies the fact that the Department, fueled by Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act funds, has created massive fluctuations in financial markets caused by government misinformation.’

‘I expect the complete cooperation of the Department as Congress works to gather information related to the Department’s award negotiations with Microvast, as well as award processes for other Department selectees,’ the Wyoming senator added.

On Oct. 19, the Department of Energy (DOE) and White House both issued press releases announcing that the Biden administration was ‘awarding’ a total of $2.8 billion to 20 companies, including Microvast, as part of a program under the 2021 infrastructure package. Granholm said at the time that Microvast and the other grant recipients were examples of companies that would foster increased domestic manufacturing.

However, the DOE withdrew the grant on May 22, explaining that the October announcement was merely the beginning of ‘negotiations’ and was not a guarantee that Microvast would receive the grant. A DOE spokesperson said ‘it is not uncommon for entities selected to participate in award negotiations under a DOE competitive funding opportunity to not ultimately receive an award.’

‘It is irrefutable the White House and Department of Energy’s deceptive press releases were a major catalyst in misleading investors,’ Barrasso wrote to Granholm, noting posts by apparent Microvast investors on an online message board.

While the agency neglected to offer a reason for the surprise move, Republican lawmakers, including Barrasso, had called on it to rescind the grant after Microvast’s ties to China were revealed. 

Overall, 69% of Microvast’s revenue was generated in China and just 3% came from the U.S., according to a third quarter financial disclosure it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month. In the same filing, the company acknowledged that the Chinese government ‘exerts substantial influence’ over its business activities and ‘may intervene at any time and with no notice.’

In his letter Monday, Barrasso called on Granholm to clarify why the DOE withdrew the grant considering its impact on investors.

‘In the interest of transparency and accountability, it is imperative American taxpayers understand what criteria the Department uses both when announcing award negotiations and when canceling them,’ he said. 

‘This lack of clarity surrounding the Department’s award processes has led to great confusion and uncertainty for those investing in Department award selectees, as is the case for Microvast investors.’

The DOE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A Republican state senator in New Jersey is fighting to hold on to the nomination after his surprise victory in 2021 ousted the Senate president. On the other side of the aisle, two long-time Democratic state senators are vying against each other for another chance to represent their party in the state Legislature.

It’s Primary Election Day on Tuesday, when polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m., although it’s not the only day ballots will be cast. In-person voting was held over the weekend and mail-in ballots have been available to voters who prefer them for weeks.

New Jersey has no statewide races on the ballot this year, however both chambers of the Democrat-led Legislature are up for grabs in the November election.

Democrats have a 46-34 advantage in the Assembly and a 25-15 margin in the Senate, but control won’t be decided until November. This year’s primary stands out because there’s only a handful of contested races.

In southern New Jersey, incumbent Republican Sen. Ed Durr is facing a challenge from incumbent GOP Assemblywoman Beth Sawyer in the 3rd Legislative District.

Durr had worked as a furniture delivery truck driver when he shocked the state by defeating Steve Sweeney, the Senate president.

At the time Sawyer, a real estate broker, was his running mate. In New Jersey, candidates from the same party typically run on a joint ticket in their district, even if they’re seeking different seats. As a team they swept the Democrats who held the Senate seat and two Assembly seats, helping the GOP net seven seats.

In northern New Jersey, a Democratic contest in the 27th Legislative District has captured some attention, with Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy weighing in.

Incumbent senators Dick Codey and Nia Gill are competing to lengthen their already decadeslong political careers.

Gill has been in the Senate since 2002. She was a long-shot candidate for Senate president after Sweeney was ousted, but lost to Sen. Nicholas Scutari, a fellow Democrat.

Codey, who served as governor from November 2004 until January 2006, has been in the state Senate since 1982. Their primary contest comes after redistricting left Gill’s hometown inside the district currently held by Codey.

Endorsing Codey, Murphy called him a ‘hardworking and dedicated’ public servant.’ Murphy didn’t mention Gill although the two have agreed on legislation previously, including bills to tighten the state’s gun laws.

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A measure that would expand the kind of criminal records that can be sealed from public view easily passed the Pennsylvania House of Representatives with bipartisan support on Monday.

The legislation cleared the House on a 189-14 vote, and goes to the Senate.

It would expand the state’s existing Clean Slate law to make non-violent drug felonies with a maximum sentence of 2 1/2 years eligible for automated sealing.

The measure also would allow for those with a criminal history to petition to seal other nonviolent felonies if they are conviction-free for 10 years. It would also reduce the waiting period for automated sealing of misdemeanors to seven years, rather than 10 years.

Sponsors for the legislation said the current law has sealed 40 million cases involving 1.2 million Pennsylvanians.

‘The bipartisan passage of Clean Slate 3.0 shows that Pennsylvania continues to believe in second chances and expand the folks who can access them,’ sponsor Rep. Jordan Harris, a Democrat from Philadelphia, said in a prepared statement.

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Ohio senators plan to remove earmarks for $1 billion in one-time spending from the state operating budget and place the money into a new fund for community projects to be doled out next spring, a high-level Ohio Senate source told The Associated Press.

Creation of the One-Time Strategic Community Investment Fund, to be announced Tuesday, would nix many earmarks for infrastructure and other projects contained in the House’s version of the $88 billion, two-year spending blueprint, the individual said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the announcement were still being finalized.

The fund will be created from leftover federal revenue and taxpayer money from fiscal year 2023, which the Ohio House and Republican Gov. Mike DeWine have proposed spending in different ways. The Senate concept is to help lawmakers make thoughtful, one-time funding decisions for priority transportation or capital projects and keep the budget document focused on policy decisions, the person said.

Projects eligible to be covered by the fund could include transportation projects, such as road and bridge construction or public transportation, and brick-and-mortar community projects benefiting schools, jails, zoos, museums, parks, waterfronts and other local facilities.

The move appears aimed at the $1 billion in one-time money that the House budget earmarks for Connect4Ohio, which would be a new program administered by the Ohio Department of Transportation aimed at shortening commutes and easing truck delivery times across the state.

Specifically, the House-passed bill allocated: $200 million for bridge replacement projects; $200 million for local matching grants; $24 million for infrastructure improvements supporting the $20 billion Intel chip factory being built east of Columbus; $6.2 million for road improvements in a southwestern Ohio county that contains a stretch of Interstate 71; and $1 million to study connecting two deep sea ports in northern Ohio. No less than a third of the money must go to rural county construction projects under the House plan. But slashing these projects from the operating budget isn’t a statement on their value, the source said. In fact, the new fund was created to ensure that worthwhile projects could still find funding with money that the state is just sitting on.

State senators will also announce further changes to the state’s operating budget Tuesday.

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