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Union Calendar No. 213 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4355 

[Report No. 116–268] 

To direct the Director of the National Science Foundation to support research 

on the outputs that may be generated by generative adversarial networks, 

otherwise known as deepfakes, and other comparable techniques that 

may be developed in the future, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 17, 2019 

Mr. GONZALEZ of Ohio (for himself, Ms. STEVENS, Mr. BAIRD, and Ms. HILL

of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

NOVEMBER 5, 2019 

Additional sponsors: Ms. SHERRILL, Ms. WEXTON, Miss GONZA ́LEZ-COLO ́N of 

Puerto Rico, Ms. SLOTKIN, Mr. LUCAS, and Ms. SPANBERGER

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on September 17, 2019] 


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A BILL 

To direct the Director of the National Science Foundation 

to support research on the outputs that may be generated by generative adversarial networks, otherwise 

known as deepfakes, and other comparable techniques 

that may be developed in the future, and for other purposes. 


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•HR 4355 RH

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Identifying Outputs of 

5 Generative Adversarial Networks Act’’ or the ‘‘IOGAN Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Research gaps currently exist on the under9 lying technology needed to develop tools to identify 

10 authentic videos, voice reproduction, or photos from 

11 manipulated or synthesized content, including those 

12 generated by generative adversarial networks. 

13 (2) The National Science Foundation’s focus to 

14 support research in artificial intelligence through 

15 computer and information science and engineering, 

16 cognitive science and psychology, economics and game 

17 theory, control theory, linguistics, mathematics, and 

18 philosophy, is building a better understanding of how 

19 new technologies are shaping the society and economy 

20 of the United States. 

21 (3) The National Science Foundation has identi22 fied the ‘‘10 Big Ideas for NSF Future Investment’’ 

23 including ‘‘Harnessing the Data Revolution’’ and the 

24 ‘‘Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier’’, 

25 in with artificial intelligence is a critical component. 


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1 (4) The outputs generated by generative adver2 sarial networks should be included under the umbrella 

3 of research described in paragraph (3) given the grave 

4 national security and societal impact potential of 

5 such networks. 

6 (5) Generative adversarial networks are not like7 ly to be utilized as the sole technique of artificial in8 telligence or machine learning capable of creating 

9 credible deepfakes and other comparable techniques 

10 may be developed in the future to produce similar 

11 outputs. 

12 SEC. 3. NSF SUPPORT OF RESEARCH ON MANIPULATED OR 

13 SYNTHESIZED CONTENT AND INFORMATION 

14 SECURITY. 

15 The Director of the National Science Foundation, in 

16 consultation with other relevant Federal agencies, shall sup17 port merit-reviewed and competitively awarded research on 

18 manipulated or synthesized content and information au19 thenticity, which may include— 

20 (1) fundamental research on digital forensic tools 

21 or other technologies for verifying the authenticity of 

22 information and detection of manipulated or syn23 thesized content, including content generated by gen24 erative adversarial networks; 


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1 (2) fundamental research on technical tools for 

2 identifying manipulated or synthesized content, such 

3 as watermarking systems for generated media; 

4 (3) social and behavioral research related to ma5 nipulated or synthesized content, including the ethics 

6 of the technology and human engagement with the 

7 content; 

8 (4) research on public understanding and aware9 ness of manipulated and synthesized content, includ10 ing research on best practices for educating the public 

11 to discern authenticity of digital content; and 

12 (5) research awards coordinated with other fed13 eral agencies and programs including the Networking 

14 and Information Technology Research and Develop15 ment Program, the Defense Advanced Research 

16 Projects Agency and the Intelligence Advanced Re17 search Projects Agency. 

18 SEC. 4. NIST SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH AND STANDARDS ON 

19 GENERATIVE ADVERSARIAL NETWORKS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National Insti21 tute of Standards and Technology shall support research for 

22 the development of measurements and standards necessary 

23 to accelerate the development of the technological tools to 

24 examine the function and outputs of generative adversarial 


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1 networks or other technologies that synthesize or manipulate 

2 content. 

3 (b) OUTREACH.—The Director of the National Insti4 tute of Standards and Technology shall conduct outreach— 

5 (1) to receive input from private, public, and 

6 academic stakeholders on fundamental measurements 

7 and standards research necessary to examine the 

8 function and outputs of generative adversarial net9 works; and 

10 (2) to consider the feasibility of an ongoing pub11 lic and private sector engagement to develop vol12 untary standards for the function and outputs of gen13 erative adversarial networks or other technologies that 

14 synthesize or manipulate content. 

15 SEC. 5. REPORT ON FEASIBILITY OF PUBLIC-PRIVATE PART16 NERSHIP TO DETECT MANIPULATED OR SYN17 THESIZED CONTENT. 

18 Not later than one year after the date of the enactment 

19 of this Act, the Director of the National Science Foundation 

20 and the Director of the National Institute of Standards and 

21 Technology shall jointly submit to the Committee on Space, 

22 Science, and Technology of the House of Representatives 

23 and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor24 tation a report containing— 


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1 (1) the Directors’ findings with respect to the 

2 feasibility for research opportunities with the private 

3 sector, including digital media companies to detect 

4 the function and outputs of generative adversarial 

5 networks or other technologies that synthesize or ma6 nipulate content; and 

7 (2) any policy recommendations of the Directors 

8 that could facilitate and improve communication and 

9 coordination between the private sector, the National 

10 Science Foundation, and relevant Federal agencies 

11 through the implementation of innovative approaches 

12 to detect digital content produced by generative adver13 sarial networks or other technologies that synthesize 

14 or manipulate content. 

15 SEC. 6. GENERATIVE ADVERSARIAL NETWORK DEFINED. 

16 In this Act, the term ‘‘generative adversarial network’’ 

17 means, with respect to artificial intelligence, the machine 

18 learning process of attempting to cause a generator artifi19 cial neural network (referred to in this paragraph as the 

20 ‘‘generator’’ and a discriminator artificial neural network 

21 (referred to in this paragraph as a ‘‘discriminator’’) to 

22 compete against each other to become more accurate in their 

23 function and outputs, through which the generator and dis24 criminator create a feedback loop, causing the generator to 

25 produce increasingly higher-quality artificial outputs and 


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1 the discriminator to increasingly improve in detecting such 

2 artificial outputs. 


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pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 213 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4355 

[Report No. 116–268] 

A BILL 

To direct the Director of the National Science 

oped in the future, and for other purposes. other comparable techniques that may be develnetworks, otherwise known as deepfakes, and that may be generated by generative adversarial Foundation to support research on the outputs 

NOVEMBER 5, 2019 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS