AI Frontier Institute

Establishes the crime of aggravated harassment by means of electronic or digital communication; provides for a private right of action for the unlawful dissemination or publication of deep fakes, which are digitized images which are altered to incorporate a person's face or their identifiable body part onto an image and such image depicts a pornographic or lewd sex act or graphic violence.

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New York Assembly Bill 6293 (2025-2026) makes three changes to address harmful AI-generated 'deep fake' content. First, it adds a new Penal Law § 240.80 creating the crime of 'aggravated harassment by means of electronic or digital communication,' a class A misdemeanor, which applies when a person intentionally produces, distributes, publishes, or broadcasts material—including a deep fake—superimposing another person's image into pornographic, lewd, or graphically violent content without that person's explicit written permission and solely to harass, annoy, threaten, or alarm. Second, it amends Civil Rights Law § 52-b (originally added in 2019) to explicitly include deep fakes alongside intimate images in the existing private right of action, allowing depicted individuals to sue for injunctive relief, punitive and compensatory damages, and attorney's fees, and to seek court orders requiring websites to remove such content; the statute of limitations is the later of three years after dissemination or one year after discovery. Third, it amends Civil Rights Law § 52-c (originally added in 2020) to explicitly include deep fakes in the private right of action for unlawful dissemination of sexually explicit depictions, requiring knowing written consent before such material may be created or published, allowing consent to be rescinded within three business days under certain conditions, and preserving exemptions for law enforcement, legal proceedings, and constitutionally protected speech. Both civil sections clarify that 'digitization' includes the use of software, machine learning, or artificial intelligence, and that no prior criminal conviction is required to bring a civil claim. The bill takes effect immediately upon enactment.

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