Michigan bills to ban AI-generated sexual content of real people advanced out a state Senate committee Tuesday. The legislation would apply to images, videos, audio recordings, or similar content made without someone’s consent.
Representative Matthew Bierlein (R-Vassar) co-sponsors the package. He said the materials, known as deep fakes, have become a problem with advancements in technology, especially in schools.
“It’s hard enough, especially our youth, to live in a world where everything is recorded digitally. Every action, every mistake, everything they do, there’s a digital record of. And to have people compound that with things that just aren’t true, we need to do something about it,” Bierlein said.
The legislation would make creating those explicit deep fakes either a misdemeanor or felony, depending on factors like how they impact victims
While using the materials for things like extortion is already illegal, bill supporters say state and federal laws fall short when it comes to penalizing their creation.
“Even though this is a broad-reaching topic and it certainly crosses state lines, there just hasn’t been a lot of federal action on it. And so, we thought it was better for us to not wait around,” Bierlein said.
At times, it seemed like the federal government was moving in the opposite direction. Earlier versions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, championed by the Trump administration, would have stopped states from regulating AI.
In Michigan, however, the effort to ban sexual deep fakes has been bipartisan.
Representative Penelope Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing) is Bierlein’s partner in the matter.
“No one can disagree that we shouldn’t be using AI-generated explicit images of other people around us, that that’s just wrong, she said.
Similar bills were introduced last legislative session but never made it to the governor before the end of the term. The current bills now head to the full state Senate floor for a possible vote.
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