Indiana lawmakers move to ban AI-generated revenge porn
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Indiana lawmakers are considering expanding the state's revenge porn law to include AI-generated images.
Driving the news: A bill to add computer-generated intimate images — those depicting sex or nudity — to the state's ban on revenge porn passed a House committee Wednesday — the first step in the legislative process.
Why it matters: AI-generated nude images of real people are a major threat of unregulated and expanding access to artificial intelligence, and they're not covered under the state's existing revenge porn law.
- Indiana would join other states that have outlawed such fake nude images after several victims' stories gained national attention — including high school students in New Jersey.
State of play: Experts have been warning about the risks for years as deepfake images have hurt people's reputations and been used for extortion.
- During the committee hearing Wednesday, experts told lawmakers that new deepfake porn sites are popping up online all the time and free apps allow anyone to make the images.
- "Anyone can become a victim," said Courtney Curtis, with the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council.
The other side: Joel Wieneke, with the Indiana Public Defender Council, said the bill's current language is overly broad and could violate the First Amendment.
- "We believe that that is going to also pull in cartoon-like representations, hand drawings," he said. "There are other types of representations that may be offensive to somebody who doesn't appreciate images of the naked human body being disseminated, just generally, but the First Amendment does protect that."
What's next: The House Committee on Courts and Criminal Code unanimously passed House Bill 1047. Rep. Sharon Negele (R-Attica), the bill's author, said she'd continue to work on the language as it moves through the legislative process.