NEW JERSEY – The Senate Law and Public Safety Committee voted unanimously in favor of advancing legislation sponsored by Senator Kristin Corrado that would establish penalties for individuals who create or disseminate deepfakes for an unlawful purpose.
“The public sharing of unlawfully generated ‘deepfakes’ can be just as devastating for a victim as having a real form of media disseminated without their consent. This is especially true in cases where artificial intelligence has been used to create pornography,” said Corrado (R-40). “We have an ethical responsibility to uphold transparency in the digital age. This bipartisan legislation would take a crucial step forward to protect individuals from the damaging effects of deceptive AI generated media by holding bad actors accountable.”
This bipartisan legislation would establish criminal penalties of the third-degree for individuals who produce deepfake audio of visual media for an unlawful purpose or share deepfakes that were created for an unlawful purpose.
If convicted, the creator or distributor of deepfake media could face imprisonment for a term of three- to five years, a fine of up to $15,000, or both. The bill provides that a court may impose a larger fine up to $30,000.
Additionally, the creator or distributor of unlawful deepfake media would also be civilly liable to the person depicted in the audio or visual media under the bill.
