Senate Bill 649 would expand Pennsylvania’s forgery laws to make it illegal to create AI deepfakes of real people and distribute it to defraud them.
HARRISBURG, Pa. — State lawmakers in Harrisburg have unanimously passed a bill aimed at curbing AI deepfakes.
Under Senate Bill 649, it would be illegal to create a fake image or video using artificial intelligence of a real person, without their consent, and distribute it with the intent to defraud them.
State Senator Rosemary Brown (R-Monroe) said the bill hopes to put guardrails around AI and protect people from being scammed.
“We have to be very aware and strongly connected with our technology, and where it’s taking us,” said State Sen. Brown. “It looks exactly like anything you would normally see, so it’s very hard to determine if something is fake or not fake.”
As the bill makes its way to the State Senate, lawmakers in Washington are continuing to debate President Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill.’ The proposed federal budget includes a provision that would prevent local and state governments from regulating artificial intelligence for 10 years.
In response, hundreds of state lawmakers from across the country signed a letter urging Congress not to support the AI provision.
Sen. Brown was one of 29 Pennsylvania State lawmakers to sign the letter.
“I don’t want anything to hold us up from getting these productive measures into our law, so that we can react and let people know that we won’t allow this to happen in Pennsylvania,” said Sen. Brown.
Scott Davis with the Cyber Security Association of Pennsylvania said the provision in the Big Beautiful Bill would impede the Commonwealth’s ability to protect consumers, while supporting AI development.
“The one thing you don’t want to do is remove the protections that are in place today, then say we’re going to create them later down the road,” said Davis.
He added that AI platforms could have less oversight, without any clear rules or framework.
“Without establishing AI security standards at the federal level or creating an oversight body, the bill actually puts all citizens and their digital footprints at risk,” said Davis.
President Trump’s proposed federal budget passed the U.S. House of Representatives on May 22 and has been sent over to the U.S. Senate.
