Ohio House begins hearings on bill prohibiting non-consensual deepfakes

State Rep. Steve Demetriou, R-Bainbridge Twp., speaks during an Ohio House session. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original article.)

Ohio House lawmakers have begun hearings on legislation that would criminalize the creation or distribution of non-consensual deepfakes. If enacted, the proposal would make it a first-degree misdemeanor on the first offense and a fifth-degree felony for any subsequent offense.

The bill’s sponsors, state Reps. Kevin Miller, R-Newark, and Steve Demetriou, R-Bainbridge Twp., define deepfakes as “an image or recording that has been convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent a person as performing an action.”

Demetriou compared the growth of artificial intelligence to innovations like electricity, the airplane or computers. But he warned, “despite the tremendous benefits of developing technology, we must also deal with the possibility of misuse or abuse.”

“In many cases, it is nearly impossible to distinguish between whether something is real or created by an artificial intelligence,” he said. “AI cannot only create sentences, but photos and videos can be produced, looking so lifelike, they are nearly indistinguishable from reality.”

The bill outlaws deepfakes used to “harass, extort, threaten, or cause physical, emotional, reputational, or economic harm.” It also extends the prohibition to creating a deepfake with the intent to distribute, actually distributing it or soliciting the creation of one.

Miller and Demetriou’s proposal is not the only one on offer.

Reps. Adam Matthews, R-Lebanon, and Brett Hillyer, R-Ulrichsville, attempt to prohibit “malicious” deepfakes but provide some exceptions if it includes a disclaimer. State Sens. Louis Blessing, R-Colerain Twp., and Terry Johnson, R-McDermott, are concerned about deepfake porn and identity theft, while Rep. Joe Miller, D-Amherst, takes aim at deepfakes meant to influence an election.

But what is the balance in prohibiting malicious content without restricting free expression?

In a bid to head off any First Amendment implications of their proposal, Kevin Miller argued, “We live in a free society, and we enjoy our right to our freedom of speech, which means that we are free to express our own opinions and beliefs. We do not, however, enjoy the same protections to manipulate and or manufacture someone else’s speech without their consent.”

Picking up on the bill’s inclusion of recordings, Rep. Josh Williams, R-Sylvania, connected the idea to current events.

“I don’t know if you guys are into hip hop music or not,” Williams said, “but we have a beef between Drake and Kendrick (Lamar) going on right now, and Drake introduced a song that had AI generated snippets of two other rappers, one that’s deceased and one that’s alive. Would that be classified as a deepfake under this under this statute?”

That song, “Taylor Made Freestyle,” included AI-generated voices made to sound like Tupac Shakur and Snoop Doggy Dogg. Miller said while the people being mimicked may not have given consent, he wasn’t sure if that kind of use would meet the bar of harassment or causing physical or emotional harm.

“But we would be more than happy to entertain any changes you might have,” he added, noting they were already thinking about a potential substitute bill.

“Personally,” Demetriou jumped in, “I just think Drake and Kendrick need to squash the beef.”

Williams’ concerns about recordings appear well-founded. While he raised the possibility of a doctored recording being used to misrepresent what politicians might have said in a meeting, fake recordings have already shown up in this year’s presidential race.

In January, ahead of the New Hampshire primary election, a fake Joe Biden robocall went out to voters encouraging them to sit out and “save your vote for the November election.” NBC News reported a Democratic political consultant paid a New Orleans street magician to create the recording. The consultant, Steve Kramer insisted he did it to raise awareness about the threat of AI in politics.

As it happens, Kramer was also working for President Biden’s Democratic primary opponent, U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips.

Follow OCJ Reporter Nick Evans on Twitter.

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