Co-Sponsorship Memo Details

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly becoming a concern for not just adults, but our middle and high school students. AI technology can easily be misused, and explicit images of another individual can be created without their consent. These images are referred to as “deepfakes” and can be used to harass and bully students.  
 
Due to the concern of the ease of creating explicit deepfakes without consent, students at Wilson West Middle School in Berks County approached me and asked for a change to the law and protections be provided. Their goal is to keep their school a safe space for learning and proactively reducing the harm on a student’s mental wellbeing.
 
I agree that no one should be able to misuse AI, and I will be introducing legislation to require artificial intelligence generated media to contain watermarks, as these students have requested. By requiring watermarks on at least 30% of the image or video, watermarks become difficult to remove and therefore an AI generated image or video is easier to spot.
 
Please join me in protecting not only our students, like those at Wilson West Middle School, but also holding those who use artificial intelligence accountable. AI can be an important tool, but it can also be a dangerous weapon.