Staff Reports
AI has stopped being a tech problem and started being a reputation problem. A new AI-generated video that mimics the likeness and voice of Douglas Murray is proof that the doppelganger age is here. That same technology is driving students to protest tech bosses and pushing the White House into a messy debate over an executive order on AI oversight. The question is simple: how do we protect people without strangling American innovation?
When AI Makes a Doppelganger
Seeing a convincing fake of a real person is not a fun thought experiment — it is happening. AI deepfakes that copy faces and voices can wreck careers, ruin reputations, and enable scams. For public figures like Douglas Murray, it’s embarrassing and dangerous. For everyday Americans, it can be devastating. The tech can be used for jokes, sure, but it can also be used for fraud, blackmail, and false news. That’s why talk of AI deepfakes and likeness protection has to move from cable op-eds to real rules.
Political Theater and a Paused Executive Order
Meanwhile, the White House has been juggling the fallout. An executive order meant to give the government a voluntary right to vet new AI models was set to be signed — then it wasn’t. Inside the administration, some want more oversight; others warn government review will slow the pace of American breakthroughs. Add in students booing tech leaders like Eric Schmidt at commencements, and you have a climate of fear and anger. The right answer isn’t to rush blind regulation or to refuse any oversight at all. It’s to write smart rules that stop harm and still let engineers build.
Common-Sense Rules, Not Alarmism
Conservatives should lead with common sense. Start by making misuse illegal: fraud and impersonation with AI should carry clear penalties. Require consent for commercial use of someone’s likeness. Force companies to label synthetic media and to keep audit trails for how content was made. But don’t choke the engine of innovation. Heavy-handed mandates that require government pre-approval of every new model will push talent and jobs overseas. We can protect people without surrendering America’s edge.
AI is a tool — powerful and unpredictable. The new wave of deepfakes, protests, and a stalled executive order shows we’re at a crossroads. Lawmakers and the White House need to move quickly, but smartly. Let’s demand protection from fraud and abuse, insist on consent for one’s likeness, and resist both panic and paralysis. Otherwise, we’ll end up either ruled by machine-made lies or ruled by rules that made us less competitive — neither of which is a good look for a free country. And if a machine ever makes your twin for you, make sure it doesn’t sign your name on anything important.
