Michigan is moving closer to criminalizing AI-generated porn that depicts real people without their consent.
Bills to criminalize the sharing and creating of “deepfake” porn unanimously passed the Michigan Senate on Wednesday, Aug. 13, by a 32-0 vote.
Because a small tweak was made to the bills in the Senate, they now head back to the House for final approval before they can head to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s desk. Earlier this year, the House passed the bills by a nearly unanimous vote.
If signed into law, a person could face up to three years in prison and a civil lawsuit if they create or distribute nonconsensual deepfake porn.
Deepfake porn refers to believably realistic but fake sexual videos, images or audio that are created by artificial intelligence or other digital tools and use the likeness of a real person that wasn’t originally participating in the intimate act.
An example of this is using technology to edit an image of a nude person or someone engaged in a sexual act by swapping that person’s face with the face of another person from another image.
The growing accessibility and capability of artificial intelligence tools have only increased the issue.
Celebrities are most often targeted, as seen last year when sexually explicit deepfake images of Taylor Swift circulated online. This sparked a nationwide push for legal protections, like the ones Michigan is considering.
A number of states have banned deepfake porn. At the federal level, it was made illegal in May to “knowingly publish” or threaten to publish intimate images of a person, including deepfakes, without their consent, the Associated Press reports.
Children, teens and other adults have also been in the crosshairs. School leaders in West Michigan last year warned parents and students of the use of deepfake technology in sextortion schemes targeting children.
Under the proposed state law, a person would be guilty of a misdemeanor if they create or send deepfake porn of a person without their consent. That misdemeanor would be punishable by up to one year in prison and up to $3,000 in fines.
To prove consent, a person would need a written agreement from the depicted individual that outlines a description of the approved deepfake.
A felony charge could be issued if any of the following apply to the nonconsensual deepfake porn:
- The subject of the deepfake suffers financial loss because of it
- A person maintains an online website for creating or distributing the deepfake
- A person posts the deepfake on a website
- A person creates or distributes the deepfake with an intent to make profit
- A person uses the deepfake to harass, extort or threaten the depicted person
- A person has previously been convicted of a misdemeanor deepfake porn charge
The felony would be punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
The bills would allow someone to file a civil lawsuit against a person who created or shared a deepfake if they did so knowing it would cause physical, emotional, reputational or economic harm to the person depicted.
A person could also be sued if they created or distributed a deepfake to harass, extort, threaten or cause physical, emotional, reputational or economic harm to the person depicted.
The civil suit would allow the victim to seek financial compensation from the perpetrator and an order from a judge to cease the creation or distribution of the deepfake.
A judge could also issue a civil fine of up to $1,000 per day if the perpetrator defied an order to cease distribution or creation of the deepfake, with the money going to the victim.
Internet service providers, telecom networks, or educational or library systems that provide for the transmission of nonconsensual deepfakes or access to them would not be liable under the law.
Additionally, the Senate added an amendment that would protect companies that develop and distribute technology capable of creating deepfakes from liability under the law if the technology was not marketed for that use and if that use was explicitly prohibited.
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