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St. Thomas Law Review

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Abstract

Mary is a fifteen-year-old who is excited about starting her sophomore year of high school. Unbeknownst to Mary, George, a classmate whose romantic advances Mary had rejected, created a sexually explicit image generated by artificial intelligence, most commonly known as a deepfake, of Mary and started sending it to other classmates. Once Mary discovered the deepfaked pictures, she and her parents sought legal advice on available remedies. Unfortunately, Mary lives in Nevada, a state that has no legislation addressing the issue of nonconsensual sexually explicit deepfakes. Similarly, at the federal level, Mary has no course of action against her offender. From one moment to the next, Mary went from an excited teenager about to start the school year to a victim without remedy against her offender for the creation and distribution of nonconsensual sexually explicit deepfakes. Hundreds of other victims share Mary’s experience, prominently women and girls. This paper addresses legislators’ attempts to regulate the creation and distribution of nonconsensual sexually explicit deepfakes. Part II provides background on why legislation regulating deepfakes is necessary. Part III discusses the steps taken in the United States by analyzing the bills passed in the state of California and the proposed legislation by the federal government to regulate deepfakes. Additionally, the section also discusses the efforts taken by the European Union, the South Korean government, and the United Kingdom’s legislature to combat the proliferation of non-consensual sexually explicit deepfakes. Part IV proposes a solution to how legislators should frame a statute that properly vindicates victims of this form of sexual abuse. Finally, Part V concludes that currently, there is no proper remedy available for victims of deepfakes and no proper punishment for their offenders.

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