In a move to combat technologically-facilitated abuse, Oklahoma has stepped up its legal game against revenge porn – this time targeting a new-age monster: AI-generated sexual content. The state's governor has signed off on House Bill 1364, a piece of legislation crafted by Rep. Toni Hasenbeck, aimed squarely at closing the gap in the legal armor that left victims of AI-created revenge porn exposed. The bill, set to become law on November 1, assimilates digitally fabricated explicit material into the wider net of what constitutes revenge pornography – making the distribution of such content a misdemeanor offense.
According to a report by the Oklahoma House of Representatives, the bill's architect, Hasenbeck, believes that the law's tendrils need to keep pace with the ever-sprawling advancements of technology, stating, “Artificial intelligence should never be used as a weapon to exploit or humiliate someone.” The sentiment echoes across the legislative divide to Sen. Jerry Alvord, who, in conjunction with Hasenbeck, moves to fortify the statutes as artificial intelligence grows more sophisticated, carrying potentials for misuse that parallel its positive applications.
And while the concern around AI's misuse is relatively nascent in the long scope of legal discourse, Hasenbeck isn't new to the arena of cyber protection. She previously penned legislation that stretched the boundaries of 'child pornography' to encompass computer-generated representations of minors in sexualized scenarios.
Alvord’s commentary on the matter, to the Oklahoma House, further reinforces the legislators' combined objective, asserting, "This legislation recognizes that digitally fabricated content, although not real, can still cause very real harm to individuals."
