Durbin, Graham Announce First Artificial Intelligence Company Endorsement Of DEFIANCE Act

Durbin, Graham Announce First Artificial Intelligence Company Endorsement Of DEFIANCE Act

OpenAI officially endorsed the legislation today, which has passed the Senate and is up for consideration in the House and would combat nonconsensual, sexually-explicit deepfakes

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) announced the endorsement of their DEFIANCE Act by OpenAI, marking the first artificial intelligence (AI) company to endorse the bill.

The bill would grant survivors the right to sue individuals who knowingly produce, distribute, solicit and receive, or possess with the intent to distribute nonconsensual sexually-explicit digital forgeries. In 2024, the Senate unanimously passed the bill, but it stalled in the House. It has again passed the Senate this Congress and is up for consideration in the House.

"Far too many young people, especially women and girls, are living in agony every day knowing deepfake nudes of them are circulating on the Internet. They ought to be able to sue the perpetrators who are harming them, and it's past time to open the courtroom to survivors. I thank OpenAI for acknowledging the gravity of the situation and supporting our bill. I encourage other AI companies to follow suit and for the House of Representatives to finally advance this key piece of legislation," said Durbin.

"Momentum and support continues to grow for our legislation to not only protect, but provide recourse to the victims-many of whom are women and children-of nonconsensual, sexual deepfakes. The DEFIANCE Act gives these victims a voice, and I remain committed to seeing these protections signed into law," said Graham.

"Technology should be deployed to disrupt for the benefit of people and not at their expense. The DEFIANCE Act is smart legislation that says no one should have intimate images made or shared without their consent, including images made with AI. The legislation will be a way to hold people to account. We appreciate the leadership of Senators Durbin and Graham and Representatives Lee and Ocasio-Cortez on this bill, and we hope the House passes it," said Chris Lehane, Chief Global Affairs Officer at OpenAI.

The bill is championed by Durbin, Graham, and U.S. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) and Laurel Lee (R-FL-15).

"The rise of artificial intelligence has created incredible opportunities, but it has also created new tools for exploitation. Nonconsensual sexually explicit deepfakes are designed to exploit, harass, and harm victims, and those affected deserve meaningful legal recourse. I am grateful for OpenAI's support of the DEFIANCE Act and for the growing recognition across industries that stronger protections are needed. This bipartisan legislation gives survivors the ability to hold perpetrators accountable and sends a clear message that exploiting someone's likeness without consent will have consequences," said Lee.

The volume of "deepfake" content available online is increasing exponentially as the technology used to create it has become more accessible to the public. The overwhelming majority of this material is sexually-explicit and is produced without the consent of the person depicted. A 2019 study found that 96 percent of "deepfake" videos were nonconsensual pornography.

One researcher found that:

• The number of nonconsensual pornographic "deepfake" videos available online has increased ninefold since 2019;
• Such videos have been viewed almost four billion times;
• Monthly traffic to the top 20 "deepfake" sites increased by 285 percent from July 2020 to July 2023; and
• Search engines directed 25.2 million visits to the top five most popular "deepfake" sites in July 2023 alone.

The bill text is available here.

In addition to Durbin, Graham, Ocasio-Cortez, and Lee, original cosponsors of the DEFIANCE Act are U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Angus King (I-ME), Mike Lee (R-UT), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Peter Welch (D-VT), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Josh Hawley (R-MO), and U.S. Representatives Kat Cammack (R-FL-03), Chris Deluzio (D-PA-17), Debbie Dingell (D-MI-12), Mike Lawler (R-NY-17), Ted Lieu (D-CA-36), Nancy Mace (R-SC-06), Max Miller (R-OH-07), Brittany Pettersen (D-CO-07), and Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ-02).

The legislation is endorsed by Microsoft, Mozilla, Bumble, the National Women's Law Center, National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), Raven, Public Citizen, Sexual Violence Prevention Association, Democratic Women's Caucus, UltraViolet, Joyful Heart Foundation, My Image My Choice, Reclaim Coalition, SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change, American Association of University Women (AAUW), End Rape on Campus, Foundation Ra, Explain the Asterisk, Protect America's Daughters, Sexual Assault Response Coalition (SARC), Students Against Sexual Assault, What Were You Wearing, Rooting Movements, Recognize Violence, Change Culture (RVCC), and Street Grace.

-30-