The U.S. state of California has taken out a knife on the deepfake issue, which has emerged as a global issue.
According to the Associated Press on the 31st (local time), the California Legislature recently passed a series of bills regulating deepfakes using artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
According to the bill sent to California Governor Gary Newsom, the production of deepfakes that sexually exploit minors with AI is prohibited. Under the current law, it is not illegal for minors to produce deepfake sexual exploitation.
In accordance with the First Amendment of the United States, which stipulates freedom of expression, prosecution and punishment are impossible if the person in the deepfake is not a real person.
However, the legislation handled by the state legislature stipulated that deepfake child sexual exploitation can be punished even if they are not real people.
If Governor Newsom signs the bill, not only those who produced deepfake child sexual exploitation, but also those who distributed or possess it could be punished.
In addition, the California Legislature also dealt with legislation to tighten regulations on election-related deepfakes as well as sexual exploitation ahead of the November presidential election.
It banned the production of deepfakes related to elections and imposed obligations on social media companies to regulate election content using deepfakes 120 days before the election.
It also opened the way for election authorities or candidates to file a lawsuit against the person who produced deepfake election content to receive damages.
The bill also has an exception that it does not regulate deepfakes for satire purposes.
Industries such as Google and X are opposed to the bills on the grounds that they are excessively regulated on freedom of expression.
However, ChatGPT developer OpenAI is known to be in favor of strengthening the obligation of SNS companies to manage AI contents.
Gov. Newsom can sign the bill or veto it by Sept. 30.
If Governor Newsom signs the bill, California will be the first U.S. state to introduce comprehensive regulations on AI deepfakes.
SALLY LEE
US ASIA JOURNAL
