Ohio lawmakers are making changes to one of several bills designed to prevent the spread of deepfakes. Those are fake pictures or videos that have been manipulated to misrepresent someone without their consent.
House Bill 185 is one of the bills meant to crack down on artificial intelligence and manipulated images. On Tuesday, an amendment was added in the Ohio House Technology and Innovation Committee.
Sponsor Rep. Adam Mathews (R-Lebanon) said one change would help ensure someone who shares a deepfake without knowing it wasn’t real wouldn’t get hit with heavy penalties.
“It makes it very targeted,” Mathews said. “We are targeting those that know something is false, take a modified facsimile of it anyway, upload and share it and give it on to spread wherever—while making sure to protect someone who may be credulous and think ‘This might be true’ and share it.”
The other change deals with internet providers. The amendment would treat internet providers like television cables, antennas, and other technology that is used to transmit deepfakes.
“Those places are not producing. They are the channels. They are the roads in the way that on the way the communication is going, and so they are similarly treated as those others," Mathews said.
The amendment outlining the changes was accepted after hearing comments from interested parties. The bill remains in the House committee.
