Illinois Passes Law Allowing Schools to Address Online Harassment Using AI
Recently the Illinois state legislature unanimously passed a bill through both the House of Representatives and Senate that would enable schools to punish students who use artificial technology to bully fellow students. Specifically, the bill will ban students from using AI generated imaging software to create false images, sometimes referred to as “deepfakes,” to harass other students. “”This has been an issue that continues to arise with the development of AI, and this bill will hopefully take care of that in terms of bullying,” said Sen. Meg Loughran Cappel in support of the bill. Members of both parties have said that AI has played a role in the rise of online harassment, as well as mental health/anxiety in students. “As our conversations continue on how we utilize AI for good, we also have to act now to reverse this more destructive trend and hold students accountable for their actions online and in the classroom” said Rep. Janet Yang Rohr in praising the bill. Supporters of the legislation believe that as artificial intelligence grows in popularity and improves, it will be necessary to enable schools, parents, and other groups to monitor abuses and punish those who use the technology for nefarious means and ensure that this emerging new technology and its awesome powers don’t fall through the legislative cracks.
Further Legislation Needed Warn Experts
As we have previously covered, there have been efforts at both the state and federal level to address the rise of AI and its use in child pornography/deepfakes, with mechanisms in place to allow content to be taken down faster. However, experts warn that further regulation of artificial intelligence, particularly as it comes to how these Large Language Models (“LLM”) interact with minors. It was recently revealed that Meta’s policies allow its chatbot to engage in sensual conversations with minor children and the AI model Grok generated nude images of Taylor Swift. Still other LLMs are explicitly designed and marketed as an AI “boyfriend” or “girlfriend” teens can interact with. This is particularly troubling when one recent study by Common Sense media found that 72% of teens have used an AI companion to talk to, and 52% use them regularly, with a third of teens saying they were made uncomfortable by what the AI companion said or did during a conversation. In some cases, the AI companion have been known to engage in sexually explicit content with underage minors, given the lack of safeguards that are pervasive in the industry overall. These LLMs could have legal ramifications for individuals engaging with them, with some designed to impersonate underage minors. Such interactions with these products could open oneself up to government investigation, legal liability, or even scammers as they reveal intimate details about themselves or engage in conversations that veer into potentially illegal conduct. Experts say that further regulation is necessary in multiple facets, with increases in disclaimers, age verification, parental oversight ability, and other changes to the industry to protect individuals from getting into trouble or engaging with the LLMs in the first place. If you have been charged or engaged in actions you may think open you up to liability, you should consult with an experienced criminal defense attorney who can advise you as to what potential consequences you could face or have exposed yourself to through the use of artificial intelligence.
