Policy & Justice
Tech-Enabled Sexual Abuse Laws: Fight Non-Consensual AI Deepfakes
RAINN urges state lawmakers to create and pass laws addressing the very real harm caused by AI-generated non-consensual “sexual deepfakes.”
What is tech-enabled sexual abuse (TESA)?
TESA includes any unwanted, non-consensual, coerced, or exploitative sexual experiences carried out using technology tools or platforms, including artificial intelligence (AI).
What are non-consensual intimate images (NCII)?
NCII includes sexual or intimate photos or videos that are created, shared, or threatened to be shared without the clear, freely-given consent of the person depicted.
Tech-Enabled Sexual Abuse Laws Lag Behind Technology
No one should have to see non-consensual sexual content of themselves online or elsewhere. Yet, technology and shortcomings in existing legal frameworks leave anyone and everyone exposed to this tech-enabled sexual abuse. The creation and distribution of AI-generated non-consensual intimate images (commonly referred to as “deepfakes”) inflict lasting harm on survivors.
The trauma caused by the non-consensual use of a victim’s image or voice to create or distribute explicit or private content lasts a lifetime—and the harm repeats with every reproduction. Its distribution invades private spaces and damages reputations and relationships, including with family, friends, workplaces, and religious communities.
States must modernize their laws to address the crime and open pathways to justice for victims.
While states are rushing to catch up with technology, abusers continue to exploit each new technology to access, control, and harm victims.
Confronting Big Tech & Holding Abusers Accountable
Given the invasiveness of this crime, many states have already criminalized the non-consensual distribution of adults’ intimate images and the possession or distribution of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM). However, AI-manipulated imagery or audio involving adults or children has gone unaddressed because the technology required to produce realistic imagery or audio has been inaccessible to most users. Rapid advancements in technology quickly render most laws addressing tech-enabled sexual abuse insufficient.
Many laws would not apply to an AI-manipulated “fake nude” photo depicting a real person’s face with computer-generated genitals because the intimate part of the image was not actually the victim’s.
Because of the increasing prevalence and accessibility of new tech tools, the threat posed by the creators and distributors of this material is acutely urgent.
States must confront creators and disseminators of this invasive material with appropriate pathways to justice for victims and updated statutes that adapt to a rapidly growing technological space.
The advancement of digital technology allows for the rapid creation, modification, sharing, and storage of AI-manipulated NCII. Computer-generated images and modification tools enable the efficient creation of images that are virtually indistinguishable from reality. Similar tools facilitate modifying voices for realistic-sounding (yet not-real) audio recordings. Especially with the advent of artificial intelligence, tools that expedite harm proliferate with few avenues for remedy.
The Photos & Videos May Be Fake — but the Harm Is Real
Apps and software can turn an otherwise mundane photo into an explicit nude image, and commonly used social networking platforms allow for quick public distribution. Such images frequently depict people not only as nude but also in sexual positions. These tools are widely available and supported by online communities in which users discuss and create non-consensual manipulated intimate material. (1) This non-consensual material causes lasting harm. (2)
People targeted with tech-enabled sexual abuse may be forced to:
- View or hear AI-generated depictions of themselves engaging in explicit acts
- Receive unwanted attention on AI-manipulated depictions of their nude bodies
- Endure the social stigma associated with explicit content
Victims lose jobs, experience trauma, and may suffer ongoing depression or anxiety.
When AI tools are used to generate explicit images of a minor, even if the minor is not identifiable, the content creator has made child sexual abuse materials (CSAM).
AI-generated or manipulated CSAM contributes to the abuse of real children and threatens to anonymize and normalize child sexual abuse and trafficking.
When these tools generate explicit images of a minor, whether or not the minor is identifiable, the creator of the image engages in the creation of Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM). Such non-consensual manipulated intimate material adds to the abuse of real children and threatens to anonymize and normalize pedophilia, child abuse, and trafficking.
Non-consensual intimate images threaten individuals and public safety. In one example, a man distributed explicit images of a woman, insisting that she “fantasized about being raped.” This eventually led to predatory strangers arriving at her place of work. (3)
Teens threatened by internet users have committed suicide when images are used to extort them. (5)
Non-consensual deepfakes are used to enhance domestic violence, child sexual abuse, and sextortion. Abusers use the material to threaten, blackmail, and control victims. (4) The sexual abuse implied in such material robs victims of consent and autonomy over their bodies. Although the content is fake, the harm to victims of tech-enabled sexual abuse is real and long-lasting.
Teens threatened by internet users have committed suicide when images are used to extort them. (5)
Laws Must Prioritize Public Safety
The harm caused by creators and distributors of deepfake NCII is exacerbated by their propensity to conduct repeated abuse against multiple victims. (6)
The serial nature of the crime, combined with the anonymity offered by the internet, makes catching perpetrators a challenging public safety concern.
The U.S. Department of Justice has called AI-manipulated NCII a “clear, present, and evolving threat to the public across national security, law enforcement, financial, and societal domains.” (7)
Individual victims, businesses, and public safety professionals need the support of the law to pursue justice for this abuse. Lawmakers must address the trauma and harm caused by non-consensual manipulated intimate material. Failure to act allows perpetrators to evade accountability for a crime that ruins lives.
State legislators have options to ensure that the statutes addressing AI-enabled sexual abuse cover the threats posed by evolving technology. Lawmakers must build their solutions with survivors at the center.
For Legislators: Example Legislation
RAINN’s policy memos and issue briefs help lawmakers draft bills that promote justice for survivors and hold perpetrators accountable.
Work With Us
We recognize that each state’s code is unique and complicated. RAINN’s policy team can work hand in hand with lawmakers and their staff to tailor these recommendations to each state’s specific needs.
Contact RAINN’s Policy Team
RAINN works with lawmakers across the country to advance bipartisan legislation that prevents sexual violence, improves justice, and holds perpetrators accountable.
NOTES & CITATIONS
(1) Lucas, K. T. (2022). Deepfakes and Domestic Violence: Perpetrating Intimate Partner Abuse Using Video Technology. Victims & Offenders, 17(5), 647–659. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2022.2036656
(2) See footnote 1. Deepfake Technology. (n.d.). Organization for Social Media Safety. Retrieved June 19, 2024, from https://www.socialmediasafety.org/advocacy/deepfake-technology/ Opens in a new tab
(3) Leonard, Collin. “Airline Pilot Extradited to Utah after Posting Illicit Images of Former Flight Attendant, Police Say.” Www.ksl.com, 4 July 2024, www.ksl.com/article/51060973/airline-pilot-extradited-to-utah-after-posting-illicit-images-of-former-flight-attendant-police-say. Accessed 8 July 2024.
(4) Lucas, K. T. (2022). Deepfakes and Domestic Violence: Perpetrating Intimate Partner Abuse Using Video Technology. Victims & Offenders, 17(5), 647–659. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2022.2036656
(5) Sganga, Nicole. “Family of Teen Who Died by Suicide Warns of Dangers of Financial Sextortion – CBS News.” Www.cbsnews.com, 17 Jan. 2024, www.cbsnews.com/news/fbi-warning-financial-sextortion-minors-growing-threat-suicide/#:~:text=From%20October%202021%20through%20March
(6) Asher Flynn, Anastasia Powell, Adrian J Scott, Elena Cama, Deepfakes and Digitally Altered Imagery Abuse: A Cross-Country Exploration of an Emerging form of Image-Based Sexual Abuse, The British Journal of Criminology, Volume 62, Issue 6, November 2022, Pages 1341–1358, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azab111 Opens in a new tab
(7) Department of Homeland Security. Increasing Threat of Deepfake Identities. 2023. https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/increasing_threats_of_deepfake_identities_0.pdf Opens in a new tab
(8) If no identifiable individual is depicted in any part of the material, a state’s obscenity laws would likely prohibit the conduct, as that is an offense against society, as opposed to these offenses, which harm identifiable victims.
(9) The First Amendment is not implicated in statutes protecting adult victims because of the lack of consent or harm requirement. For children, if the material is obscene or sexually explicit, there are no First Amendment concerns, even without a consent or harm requirement. But any strict liability for depictions of minors that are not obscene or sexually explicit should be reviewed carefully to ensure there are no First Amendment implications.
(10) Child sexual abuse material is generally defined as sexually explicit depictions involving a minor (e.g., actual or simulated sexual intercourse) or lascivious exhibition of intimate areas of a minor. Lascivious is if the depiction is sexually suggestive or designed to elicit a sexual response.
(12) As noted above, if the material is CSAM, it is sexual abuse and never consensual
Last updated: July 25, 2026