Committee adopts amendment expanding child-predator statute to cover AI deepfakes

Senator Gabbin and a committee sponsor explained an amendment to S P 70 that replaces certain textual lines and ties the statute to the existing definition in section 13a-12-190, while adding a definition for "virtually indistinguishable depiction." The change was intended to ensure that AI-generated deepfakes or simulated explicit depictions sent to someone believed to be a minor remain criminalized.

A committee member explained they had consulted legislative services and matched language used in other code sections governing transmission of AI-generated content. The amendment removes ambiguous phrasing and instead references explicit conduct as defined in the cited statute and adds an explicit definition to cover deepfakes.

The committee moved to adopt the amendment; a member seconded (Faulkner) and members voted "aye" on the amendment and on giving the bill a favorable report.

The amendment sponsor said that under the revised language, "if you're doing deep fakes, AI generated images and you're sending that to a minor or someone you believe to be a minor, that would still be a crime." The committee recorded the amendment as adopted and the bill as amended was given a favorable report.