Spain’s government approved a bill on Tuesday imposing massive fines on companies that use content generated by artificial intelligence (AI) without properly labelling it as such, in a bid to curb the use of so-called “deepfakes”.

The bill adopts guidelines from the European Union’s landmark AI Act imposing strict transparency obligations on AI systems deemed to be high-risk, Digital Transformation Minister Oscar Lopez told reporters.

“AI is a very powerful tool that can be used to improve our lives … or to spread misinformation and attack democracy,” he said.

Spain is among the first EU countries to implement the bloc’s rules, considered more comprehensive than the United States’ system that largely relies on voluntary compliance and a patchwork of state regulations.

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