Lawmakers act on artificial intelligence bills as Colorado session ends
DENVER (KDVR) — Lawmakers are set to wrap up their work at the state capitol for this year on Wednesday, but before that happens, they are working on measures related to artificial intelligence.
One bill is close to passing the finish line and another bill is dying as things settle down.
State leaders say artificial intelligence is advancing faster than they can regulate it. One bill looking to do that will head to the governor, but it's not the one he was pushing for.
'When an intimate image is posted online in which part of it has been tweaked and through AI or other digital means, the law is silent. So in order to be able to prosecute these individuals, we need to bring forward Senate Bill 288 to update the law,' said State Representative Matt Soper.
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Senate Bill 288 is a step closer to the governor's desk after representatives passed the measure Tuesday afternoon.
The measure looks to crack down on explicit deepfake images. Deepfakes are created by digitally altering people's faces and bodies to look like someone, often with malicious intent. The bill that just passed the House Wednesday would penalize the person who creates a graphic image like that of another person: introducing a misdemeanor for most cases or a class six felony for cases where the image was used to influence an election, a judicial or legislative proceeding or if it poses a serious threat to the person depicted.
It also creates an avenue for the person whose image was used to sue for up to $150,000. Some lawmakers cried foul over the bill's fast movement during the final week of the session.
'It was kind of sheer muscle to really push it passed,' said Soper, a prime sponsor of the bill. 'A lot of the objections were 'it's too late in session.' Then the other objection came from an amendment that we added in House Judiciary, which gave protection from AI companies and other technology providers that they would not be liable civilly for the user's use of their software.'
Supporters said Colorado needs to act on this now so the state isn't playing catch-up, with 37 other states already having a bill like this in effect. While this bill was able to pass, another bill looking to slow the implementation of the state's landmark AI law from last year was not able to pass despite the governor, Denver's mayor and several congressional members calling for it to do so.
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Representative Brianna Titone sponsored that bill and the deepfake measure. The AI bill would have delayed implementation of the original bill until 2027, but the original implementation date of February 2026 will remain intact after stakeholders, lawmakers and technological companies could not come to an agreement.
'The tech industry was pushing for more watered-down regulations and more ways to get out of complying and the Senate sponsor could not find a resolution in the short amount of time that we are here and it's disappointing because we all really wanted to find a path forward,' Titone said.
The deepfake measure is heading to the governor after senators agreed with House amendments to the measure. Titone said lawmakers will explore solutions for the other AI measure over the summer. Congress just passed a bill on the matter, it's awaiting the president's signature. Soper said the federal measure does have a pathway to liability for the software companies in some cases, while the legislation at the state level targets the user of the technology.
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