ATLANTA — It could soon become a serious crime in Georgia to use AI apps to create obscene, computer-generated images of real people.
State senators considered a proposal Monday to create the crime of “virtual peeping” by using artificial intelligence to virtually undress people.
The technology would have been viewed as science fiction several years ago but now it has become a “nightmare” for victims whose privacy is violated, said state Sen. Bo Hatchett, R-Cornelia, the sponsor of Senate Bill 398.
“You shouldn’t have to be afraid to post an image of yourself online. You shouldn’t be afraid to have a picture of yourself in a yearbook and have that photograph used in the ways that people are using them now,” Hatchett said. “There needs to be some protections in the law, and I think they need to be harsh punishments.”
Under the bill, using AI to generate an obscene image of an adult without their consent would be a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. Obscene AI images of minors would come with imprisonment up to 20 years and a $100,000 fine.
Several people told a Senate Judiciary subcommittee Monday they support the intent of the bill, but they were concerned it could be too broad.
“Sixteen-year-old boys are dumb. You have a tool that will very easily create a naked image, and you’re telling a 16-year-old boy whose brain is barely fully formed, certainly not their frontal lobe, that they cannot do that thing,” said Cindy Battles, policy director for The Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, a civil rights group. “I don’t think a 16-year-old child should be charged with a felony for having an image that they created using AI.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia told senators the bill should be revised to target harmful images while protecting satire, political commentary, artistic expression and parody.
“This is what we ought to be doing with our time because technology is getting beyond our criminal justice system,” said Minority Leader Harold Jones II, D-Augusta.
Legislators said they will continue working on the bill, and it didn’t receive a vote Monday. Hatchett said he plans to present a new version of the bill next week.
