Democrats in Congress are pushing to have the federal government limit X’s artificial intelligence image generator over concerns that the content users have been generating could have a negative influence on the election.

In a letter to Lisa Stevenson, the acting general counsel for the Federal Election Commission, a group of House Democrats backed a petition seeking to clarify  52 U.S.C. §30124, which prohibits candidates from misrepresenting their opponents “on a matter which is damaging to such other candidate or political party or employee or agent thereof.”

The petition filed by the progressive advocacy organization Public Citizen wants the agency to state that if “candidates or their agents fraudulently misrepresent other candidates or political parties through deliberately false AI-generated content in campaign ads, that the restrictions and penalties of 52 U.S.C. §30124 are applicable.”

The Democratic lawmakers noted that X launched its latest AI generator, Grok-2, on August 14 and said there are “few rules to combat its misuse.”

“In fact, there are no policies that would allow the platform to restrict images of public figures that could be potentially misleading,” the letter warned. “Less than 24 hours after its debut, fake images of presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama appeared on X. Candidate Trump has even gone as far as promoting false endorsements from celebrities like Taylor Swift on his social media platforms.”

The lawmakers argue, “The proliferation of deep-fake AI technology has the potential to severely misinform voters, causing confusion and disseminating dangerous falsehoods. It is critical for our democracy that this be promptly addressed, noting the degree to which Grok-2 has already been used to distribute fake content regarding the 2024 presidential election.”

X users who pay for the platform’s subscription can access Grok-2 and generate images by typing in a description of what they want to create.

The Verge notes that Grok-2 tells users that it has certain restrictions on what kind of content it will generate, such as images that are “pornographic, excessively violent, hateful, or that promote dangerous activities.” It also says it will not infringe on copyrights or trademarks and will not “generate images that could be used to deceive or harm others, like deep fakes intended to mislead or images that could lead to real-world harm.”

However, those stipulations have not stopped users from testing the limits of the image generator’s restrictions. Users have been generating a variety of images, from X owner Elon Musk chowing down on a piece of steak to stranger content, such as an image apparently meant to depict President Trump gazing into the eyes of a pregnant Vice President Harris, to Mickey Mouse wearing a Make America Great Again hat while holding a beer and a cigarette. 

In response to the Democrats’ letter, Sean Cooksey, the chairman of the FEC, wrote on X, “Democratic House Members are now pressuring the FEC to issue new rules to censor [Mr. Musk’s] new Grok-2 AI art generator before the election. Let me be clear: the First Amendment is not optional. I’ll never support shutting down political speech online, including your memes.”

Senator Lee also criticized the Democrats’ request as he claimed, “What these House Democrats are calling for is literally tyranny.”

Concerns about AI’s influence on the election have gone beyond Grok-2. Earlier this year, a political consultant was indicted for using AI to impersonate President Biden and urging voters in New Hampshire not to cast ballots in the state’s primary.