AI is quickly getting better at producing realistic images. Since we can’t have nice things, people are also quickly realizing that they can use it to produce realistic pornographic likenesses of people.

Law and Tech Will Have to Work Together to Tackle Deepfake Porn - Grit Daily News

These deepfakes — which have been used to harass coworkers and children — used to live in a limbo space where, despite being obviously wrong, evaded punishment because the creation and sharing of these images wasn’t technically illegal. States have been adjusting their laws to this new use of technology; Washington is the most recent.

The Internet Is Full of Deepfakes, and Most of Them Are Porn | PCMag

 

A new Washington state law will make it illegal to share fake pornography that appears to depict real people having sex.Advancements in artificial intelligence have made it easy to use a single photograph to impose someone’s features on realistic-looking “deepfake” porn…The new Washington law, which Gov. Jay Inslee signed last week, will make it a gross misdemeanor to knowingly share fabricated intimate images of people without their consent.

People who create and share deepfake pornographic images of minors can be charged with felonies. So can those who share deepfake porn of adults more than once.

Deepfake porn, election disinformation move closer to being crimes in Minnesota : r/technology

Public figures like Taylor Swift and Scarlett Johansson have been targeted by deepfakers. Their legal teams were able to do damage control, but the average person doesn’t have nearly as many resources to devote to clearing their name or scrubbing the web. This law, in addition to the states that will adopt laws like it, make navigating a world of perverts with smartphone access a little more safer.