ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota Senate voted to criminalize people who create and share what are called “deep-fake images” intended to hurt a political candidate online or influence an election. The bill also would criminalize faked images designed to embarrass or humiliate someone sexually. The bill specifies with as much as five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The bill next goes to a joint Senate-House committee and then to Governor Tim Walz. In the Senate the vote was unanimous except for Republican Senator Nathan Wesenberg, of Little Falls. He wanted tougher penalties.
Deep-fake images
Software to distort images has gone far beyond early-day photoshopping. Cutting-edge techniques enable doctoring video to put words they never said in a person’s mouth. In January, as an example, a statement by President Joe Biden about army tanks was altered into an attack on transgender people. Such misrepresentations can be done with now-easily available artificial intelligence tools that simulating a person’s voice with a few clicks of a button.