AI Impersonation Prevention Act (H.R.4628) — a subsection added to the federal impersonation offence, with satire carved out on condition that it is disclosed as inauthentic

1No new offence, an addition to one that exists

Rather than a new statute for AI impersonation, the bill adds a subsection to section 912 of title 18 of the United States Code, the provision punishing impersonation of an officer or employee of the United States.

Choosing where to insert is also choosing which body of law the problem belongs to. Here AI impersonation is placed as an extension of an existing criminal category rather than as a matter of fraud or of speech. The penalty is a fine or imprisonment of not more than three years.

2The carve-out for satire carries a condition

The text provides that nothing in the subsection limits legitimate uses of AI in satire, parody or expressive conduct protected under the First Amendment. A condition rides with it: the content must include clear disclosure that it is not authentic.

Being satire is therefore not itself the ground for the carve-out; being recognisable as inauthentic is. Free expression and preventing an audience from taking a fabrication as real are separated at that single point of disclosure.

3Definitions sit inside the provision

Subsection (c) defines both terms. Artificial intelligence is any system or software performing tasks normally requiring human intelligence, generative models capable of human-like audio, video or text included. Impersonates is falsely representing oneself as another identifiable individual, real or fictitious, in a manner reasonably likely to make another believe the content authentic.

Of the 114 AI-related bills this site holds as of 2026-09-01, among the 50 not yet covered, 12 take the form of amending an existing statute while the remaining 38 build new arrangements. Amendments are the minority, but which statute a bill inserts into shows what kind of problem the issue is being treated as.

4Which statute it amends places the problem

Rather than writing a new law for AI impersonation, this bill adds a paragraph to an existing provision, 18 U.S.C. 912.

Section 912 punishes impersonating an officer of the United States. AI-based impersonation is therefore placed not as a problem of fraud or of expression but as an extension of impersonating a public official. Satire and parody are excluded, but on the condition that the content clearly discloses that it is not authentic — separating free expression from misleading the recipient at the single point of disclosure.