Artificial intelligence seems to be ever-present in our lives these days. It’s being integrated into everyday technology, and one of the dangers of artificial intelligence lies in its ability to create sexually explicit deepfakes.
“Deepfake” is a term used to indicate that a photo has been modified with an app or some other tech to simulate the original subject in various fake scenarios made possible through AI. A sexual deepfake recently spread at a Louisiana school, raising awareness (and concern) regarding the issue.
Louisiana Representative Mike Bayham has prefiled a bill that would add AI deepfakes to what’s considered child sex abuse materials. He says the increasing availability of artificial intelligence tools to create illicit material involving children drove him to prefile the bill in order to allow it into state statute. Prefiling a bill allows legislators weeks (or months) before the session officially begins in order to allow for earlier review.
“We’re living in a new and, at times, disturbing world. This is something I felt was important to stop people from having their images abused and manipulated for sexual purposes,” Bayham noted.
The State Representative believes this bill does not infringe upon First Amendment rights and allows offenders to be held accountable for their conduct.