A Synthetic Marketplace: Rethinking First Amendment Theory In the Age of AI-Generated Video

Authors

• Jared Schroeder
• Heesoo Jang

Abstract

First Amendment theory is unprepared for the synthetic-media era. AI-generated videos, which fundamentally portray events and actions that never happened, are changing the ways people construct reality in fundamental ways. These believable videos raise substantial concerns about foundational assumptions of First Amendment theory, particularly the marketplace of ideas. Synthetic videos challenge citizens to discern truth from falsity in new ways. These challenges are multiplied by the nature of video, which scholars have noted audiences find uniquely believable. This article examines First Amendment theory, as well as the nature of video, ultimately contending that the rationales the Supreme Court has traditionally used to support expansive First Amendment safeguards are generally insufficient to support the same level of protection for synthetic video.

First Page

30

Recommended Citation

Jared Schroeder & Heesoo Jang, A Synthetic Marketplace: Rethinking First Amendment Theory In the Age of AI-Generated Video, 10 Bus. Entrepreneurship & Tax L. Rev. 30 (2026).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/betr/vol10/iss1/5