California governor Gavin Newsom has signed two bills that will make it illegal for people to possess or distribute AI-generated deepfake nudes of children.
On Sunday, Newsom signed a pair of proposals that aim to protect minors from AI technology being used to create harmful sexual imagery of them.
The legislation will allow prosecutors to go after any individuals who own or share such AI-generated child sexual abuse images.
The California governor’s new laws, which received overwhelming bipartisan support, close a legal loophole around AI-generated imagery of child sexual abuse and make it clear child pornography is illegal even if it’s AI-generated.
According to ABC News, under current law, district attorneys cannot prosecute individuals for possessing or distributing AI-generated child sexual abuse images unless they can prove that the material depicts a real person. But these new laws would make such offenses a felony.
“Child sexual abuse material must be illegal to create, possess, and distribute in California, whether the images are AI-generated or of actual children,” Democratic Assemblymember Marc Berman, who authored one of the bills, says in a statement. “AI that is used to create these awful images is trained from thousands of images of real children being abused, revictimizing those children all over again.”
It will be now illegal for an adult to create or share AI-generated sexually explicit deepfakes of a person without their consent under state laws. Social media platforms will also required to allow users to report such materials for removal.
In the last few weeks, Newsom has signed some of the toughest laws against AI-generated content in the U.S. yet — including legislation that makes it illegal to create deepfakes related to the 2024 election.
The California governor also signed two bills into law that will protect actors and performers from unauthorized AI clones. He also vetoed a first-of-its-kind bill (S.B. 1047) that will require safety testing of large AI systems or models before their release to the public.
California’s legislation could serve as a guide for regulators nationwide seeking to curb the spread of AI-driven manipulative content in the U.S. However, the state’s new laws have already encountered legal challenges. A lawsuit was recently filed against California’s new bills by a content creator who creates AI-generated, parody videos including one of vice president Kamala Harris that was shared by Elon Musk.
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