Bills addressing AI-created porn, misleading content pass Iowa House • Iowa Capital Dispatch
As concerns grow about the misuse of artificial intelligence in creating images and videos, House lawmakers passed several bills Wednesday adding criminal charges for certain uses of AI — as well as passing legislation requiring minors to receive parental consent to access social media.
House File 2240 and Senate File 2243, passed unanimously, would make it a crime to create media showing a “visual depiction” of an individual — recognizable through their face, likeness or distinguishing features — engaged in a sexual act or in full or partial nudity without their consent. Violations would be an aggravated misdemeanor for depictions of adults, and a felony for depictions of a minor.
Both bills are in response to developing AI technologies that can use existing photos, videos and recordings to create new depictions — including creating pornography or other obscene materials using someone’s photos or videos posted online.
Rep. Helena Hayes, R-New Sharon, said the legislation was necessary to take on the “dramatic rise in the use of artificial intelligence to create nonconsensual pornography” happening in Iowa and nationwide. AI-generated images and videos mapping a person’s face onto other material, sometimes known as “deep fakes,” can be used to create the “modern take on revenge porn,” Hayes said, and can be used to extort or harass a victim.
“This content is not only becoming more realistic, but also much easier to create,” Hayes said. “This increasing problem has led to the FBI to issue a public service announcement in June of 2023 of the increase use of ‘deep fakes’ to create explicit content and sex-tortion schemes. Mr. Speaker, it is a well known fact that pornography has harmed many, many people. … This bill adds deep fake revenge porn into the assault code so that it too can be considered harassment.”
Hayes said the bill adding further penalties for AI-generated content depicting minors in explicit images or videos was important, as the FBI reports this sort of content often involves depictions minors. The victim may be unaware the images exist until it is brought to their attention by another person or used against them in an extortion scheme.
“Once circulated, victims face significant challenges in preventing the continual sharing of the manipulated content or removal from the internet,” Hayes said. “And here in Iowa, we have faced this very thing already. So this legislation gets ahead of the oncoming problems regarding technology.”
The representative also gave a reminder that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children have created a tool, called “Take It Down,” to help minors remove and stop the sharing online of sexually explicit media with their depiction.
The use of “deep fakes” and false AI-generated content was also discussed with House File 2549, a bill that would add criminal charges for the creation of campaign materials that involve false representations of candidates and issues that could impact voting at an election. The bill also would require campaign materials to include disclosures on the use of AI to generate content included and if AI-made content is “materially deceptive” — showing a candidate saying or doing something that did not happen.
Rep. J.D. Scholten, D-Sioux City, said the legislation is crucial as Iowa and the nation nears the 2024 election. In the campaign cycle so far, there have already been instances of AI being used to generate content some say is misleading without disclosure. For example, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign and a supporting super PAC released ads using a generative-AI tools to have former President Donald Trump’s voice reading his tweets out loud, or showing an AI image of Trump and former Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci together. Neither ad contained disclosures about the use of AI in creating the advertising material.
“This bill matches the moment,” Scholten said. “Often legislation lags behind the technology and we all understand the importance of the 2024 election and election integrity. … And so for that, I want to thank all the folks who’ve worked on this bill. It hasn’t been easy, this is cutting edge technology that we’re trying to help protect from.”
The legislation passed 93-1.
Parental permission for social media
As lawmakers discussed the impact of emerging technologies on the internet, representatives also passed House File 2523 88-6. The bill requires minors between the ages of 13 and 18 to obtain parental permission to create accounts on social media platforms, and prohibits social media companies from collecting data from minors without parental consent.
If the parent gives permission, social media companies would be required to give parents access to see their child’s account and personal messages and be able to set privacy or time limits — as well as the ability to revoke permission at any time.
The bill was amended to more clearly define “social media” websites — excluding online gaming platforms, as well as websites like a company’s online help desk. The Iowa attorney general could bring civil actions against social media companies for violations of the bill.
Rep. Charley Thomson, R-Charles City, linked the legislation to the previous measures on AI use in creating sexual content.
“I’d like the body to be cognizant of the number of deaths that have occurred because of exploitation of social media by bad actors,” Thomson said. “Many of these are younger men, 17 and under, who have been exploited using sex-ploitation techniques referenced … (These are) preventable suicides, almost a homicide, because some of these bad actors have encouraged the suicide victims to actually commit suicide.”
Rep. Sami Scheetz, D-Cedar Rapids, spoke in support of the measure.
“As somebody who grew up during the age of social media, I know firsthand some of the harms that can have on the mental health of children in our state,” Scheetz said.
Source : https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2024/03/06/bills-addressing-ai-created-porn-misleading-content-pass-iowa-house/
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Date : 2024-03-07 01:43:10
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