STATEHOUSE — Gov. Eric Holcomb recently signed State Rep. Sharon Negele’s (R-Attica) legislation into law that bans revenge porn generated using artificial intelligence.
Negele said while Indiana’s current law includes protections for victims of revenge porn, her legislation closes a critical loophole concerning explicit images that are generated or altered using AI. These types of pornographic images, known as deepfakes, are often realistic images that have been digitally altered to make it appear an individual is nude or a person’s body is swapped for another.
“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.”
Negele said House Enrolled Act 1047 will expand the state’s definition of intimate images to include unauthorized and undisclosed images generated or altered using AI. It makes the distribution of these images a Class A misdemeanor or Level 6 felony, punishable by up to 30 months of prison time, with exceptions for criminal investigations, reports, court orders and news reporting.
In 2023, a State of Deepfakes report found over 95,000 deepfake or AI-generated videos online and of those 99% were pornographic videos of women. Negele said a disturbing number of cases have also been reported in schools across the country, where students digitally altered images of female classmates in compromising ways and distributed them online.
Only a handful of other states have enacted similar laws to Negele’s including New York, Virginia, Georgia and California.
Visit iga.in.gov for more information on House Enrolled Act 1047,
