COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — Ohio lawmakers are taking steps to regulate artificial intelligence-generated content and stop the spread of misinformation. House Bill 185 aims to combat misinformation by requiring disclaimers on realistic AI-generated content and establishing penalties for unauthorized use of someone’s name, image, and likeness.
State Rep. Ty Mathews (R-Findlay) is spearheading the bill, which seeks to address the growing prevalence of deepfakes—synthetic audio or video clips produced by generative AI.
Over the past several years, deepfakes have become more prevalent online — with fake explicit photos of celebrities to politicians urging you not to vote for them. There are now widely accessible, free, or inexpensive services that use AI to create and edit photos, videos, and audio.
“We’re not just looking at static images. We’re looking at all the AI that can be put behind something, whether it be voice, whether it be images, any kind of likeness or imagery,” Dr. Denise Kinsey-Bergstrom, the cybersecurity program chair at Franklin University, said. “It will generate what it anticipates to be the best reproduction with all that information, so I can basically have you say anything.”
Kinsey-Bergstrom said she’d seen the growth of AI firsthand.
“I’m not afraid of AI in any manner,” she said. “I’m just very cautious of the ways in which we are going to show it as the end all be all.”
The bill would require a clear watermark on AI-manipulated content and impose civil penalties of tens of thousands of dollars for violations. Additionally, creating or distributing malicious AI content for extortion would be classified as a third-degree felony.
“Malicious deepfakes, AI meant to harm someone’s image, would only be allowed as long as they have a clear watermark that they were artificially manipulated,” the bill states. It also bans pornographic deepfakes and deepfakes of children, with or without a disclaimer.
The push for House Bill 185 follows the federal Take It Down Act, which criminalizes revenge porn images, including deepfakes. The Ohio bill would similarly require disclaimers on realistic and malicious AI content and impose civil penalties and potential felony charges.
Attorney General Dave Yost expressed support for the bill, noting the increasing potential for AI misuse.
“With this growth in availability comes the opportunity for bad actors to exploit artificial intelligence’s capabilities to deceive and defraud the public,” Yost shared in his written testimony. “As we await potential action at the federal level to provide guardrails on the use of artificial intelligence, it is left up to you and your fellow legislators to do what you can to protect Ohio’s citizens.”
Kinsey-Bergstrom adds it’s also on us to limit what we share online.
“It is a tool that should be part of our arsenal of tools in which we solve problems,” she said. “But especially when we consider the impacts of what we’re doing, the greater risk of loss or harm, the more human intervention we need when it comes to AI.”
