Governor Holcomb approves legislation making computer-generated revenge pornography illegal

Indianapolis, Indiana – This Thursday, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb signed a measure outlawing artificial intelligence-generated revenge pornography.

The House Enrolled Act 1047 criminalizes the sharing of “intimate” photos or videos that contain nonconsensual pornography. The law adds unapproved AI-generated photos to the state’s existing definition and revenge porn statute. Rep. Sharon Negele of state wrote the legislation.

Although Indiana already had a law protecting victims of revenge porn, Negele’s measure concentrated on any photos that were sexually explicit and created or modified by artificial intelligence.

The most prevalent example consists of photos that have been digitally manipulated to appear as though a particular person is nude or that their body has been swapped out for another. These photographs, also known as deepfakes, are frequently extremely convincing.

“With the growing popularity of AI, creating and distributing malicious and exploitive images and videos of others is easier than ever,” Negele said. “Women are the primary target of deepfake pornography and up until now they’ve had no recourse. And to make it worse, they can face years of embarrassment as the content is nearly impossible to remove from the web. That’s why I had to take action and I’m incredibly grateful to see this legislation be signed into law.”
If found guilty of sharing photos without permission, the punishment may be as much as $5,000 in fines and 30 months in jail. The offense will be categorized as either a Level 6 felony or a Class A misdemeanor.

The current version of the law exempts criminal investigations, court orders in specific situations, and press outlets for reporting purposes.

The voyeurism statute that already exists in Indiana was enlarged by one of the bill’s changes, making it illegal to employ a covert camera to record a private image or behavior. By a unanimous vote, that modification was included in the bill last month.

In connection with a settlement with the Boy Scouts of America, one of the bill’s clauses also temporarily extends the state’s statute of limitations for victims of sexual abuse.

Due to Indiana’s short statute of limitations, over 800 Hoosiers claim they were sexually molested as Boy Scouts but have not been able to get their fair portion of the Boy Scouts of America’s almost $2.5 billion bankruptcy settlement.

House Bill 1047 was unanimously sent to Holcomb on Tuesday for his final review by the Indiana House.

According to a State of Deepfakes report from the previous year, approximately 100,000 deepfake or AI-generated films on the internet included pornographic material, including images of women, in 99% of the cases.