AI Frontier Institute

Criminalize disclosure of certain explicit AI-generated media

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Montana SB 413 (2025), now law, creates the crime of disclosing explicit synthetic media (sexual deepfakes). Under Section 1(1), a person commits the offense by knowingly or purposely: (a) disclosing such media when they know or reasonably should know that an identifiable person portrayed did not consent and that disclosure would cause that person substantial emotional distress; (b) disclosing it with intent to terrify, intimidate, threaten, harass, or injure the person portrayed; or (c) possessing it and threatening to disclose it to obtain money or other valuable consideration from the person portrayed. Penalties under Section 1(2): a first conviction carries a fine up to $1,000, up to 1 year in county jail, or both. A second or later conviction carries a fine up to $10,000, up to 5 years in state prison, or both. If the person portrayed is under 18, the fine is up to $10,000, prison up to 10 years, or both. Section 1(3) exempts disclosures made to report unlawful conduct, for legitimate scientific research or educational purposes, or in the normal course of civil or criminal legal proceedings. Section 1(4) bars liability for interactive computer services over content provided by others unless the service intentionally aids or abets the disclosure. Section 1(5) defines key terms. "Synthetic media" means an image or video created or altered by technical means, including artificial intelligence, to realistically misrepresent an identifiable individual as engaging in conduct they did not engage in. "Explicit synthetic media" covers depictions of sexual conduct, intimate body parts (including artificially generated ones), or sexual bodily fluids. Section 2 codifies the offense in Title 45, chapter 5, part 6. Section 3 makes the act effective on passage and approval. Section 4 applies it to offenses committed on or after the effective date.

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