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Seeking to combat the increasing use of artificial intelligence for fraud and defamation, State Sen. Josh Becker introduced legislation on Feb. 19 that would raise penalties for scams involving deepfake technology and create new avenues for removing the offending images.
The impetus for Becker’s bill is rooted in cases where bad actors have used the technology to commit fraud or harm people’s reputations. In one case, a woman from Southern California lost her home and life savings when scammers used deepfake technology to impersonate the actor Steve Burton. The woman believed she was in a relationship with Burton, and transferred the money to the scammers.
In other cases, AI technologies, including xAI’s Grok chatbot, have been used to generate sexually explicit content of women without their permission. The digital replicas are highly realistic, making it difficult to discern what is real and what is AI-generated.
“Artificial intelligence should empower people and not be weaponized against them,” Becker said in a press release. “An algorithm [should not be] used to defraud others, damage their reputation or violate their dignity. The Digital Dignity Act ensures Californians have real protections and real remedies in the age of AI.”
According to Becker’s office, the Digital Dignity Act clarifies that impersonation with a digital replica is now punishable under existing defamation law. It also increases the penalties for people found liable of defamation or impersonation when using AI-generated content.
Finally, the law would require platforms that host AI-generated content to provide pathways for victims to remove unauthorized AI-generated replicas. Becker’s office explained that in cases where large online platforms also have generative AI tools, it is possible for that company to have a look-up tool for it to search who created digital content – and therefore, it’s technically feasible for a company to remove images created without a person’s permission.
The Senate Rules Committee must now refer the bill to the appropriate policy committee based on its subject matter for review and discussion. This will occur in the coming weeks, a spokesperson for Becker’s office said. If the bill passes the committee, it will move to the Senate floor for debate.
Becker represents the 13th Senate District in California, which encompasses portions of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties including Palo Alto, Mountain View, Menlo Park and Redwood City.
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