Artificial intelligence hit the mainstream last year like never before, enabling people to create ever-more realistic deepfakes. Now they’re appearing online more often, in several forms.
Taylor Swift stands on the field after an AFC Championship NFL football game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024, in Baltimore. AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File
By GEOFF MULVIHILL, Associated Press
February 1, 2024 | 8:54 AM
Even before pornographic and violent deepfake images of Taylor Swift began widely circulating in the past few days, state lawmakers across the U.S. had been searching for ways to quash such nonconsensual images of both adults and children.
But in this Taylor-centric era, the problem has been getting a lot more attention since she was targeted through deepfakes, the computer-generated images using artificial intelligence to seem real.
Here are things to know about what states have done and what they are considering.
Where deepfakes show up
Artificial intelligence hit the mainstream last year like never before, enabling people to create ever-more realistic deepfakes. Now they’re appearing online more often, in several forms.
There’s pornography — taking advantage of celebrities like Swift to create fake compromising images.
There’s music — A song that sounded like Drake and The Weeknd performing together got millions of clicks on streaming services — but it was not those artists. The song was removed from platforms.
And there are political dirty tricks, this election year — Just before January’s presidential primary, some New Hampshire voters reported receiving robocalls purporting to be from President Joe Biden telling them not to bother casting ballots. The state attorney general’s office is investigating.
But a more common circumstance is porn using the likenesses of non-famous people, including minors.
What states have done so far
Deepfakes are just one area in the complicated realm of AI that lawmakers are trying to figure out whether and how to handle.
At least 10 states have enacted deepfake-related laws already. Scores of more measures are under consideration this year in legislatures across the country.
Georgia, Hawaii, Texas and Virginia have laws on the books that criminalize nonconsensual deepfake porn.
California and Illinois have given victims the right to sue those who create images using their likenesses.
Minnesota and New York do both. Minnesota’s law also targets using deepfakes in politics.
Are there tech solutions?
University at Buffalo computer science professor Siwei Lyu said work is being done on several approaches, none of them perfect.
One is deepfake detection algorithms, which can be used to flag deepfakes on places like social media platforms.
Another — which Lyu said is in development but not yet being used widely — is to embed codes in content people upload that would signal if they’re reused in AI creation.