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Michigan House approves bills penalizing nonconsensual explicit deepfakes; amendment to add verbal-consent defense fails
Summary
The Michigan House passed House Bills 4047 and 4048 on final reading to create civil and criminal penalties for nonconsensual explicit AI-generated images and to amend criminal procedure; an amendment to add an explicit verbal-consent defense was rejected. Both bills were given immediate effect after passage.
The Michigan House of Representatives on final reading approved two bills aimed at barring the creation and distribution of nonconsensual explicit “deepfake” images and videos, passing House Bill 4047 and House Bill 4048 by wide margins and ordering both measures to take immediate effect.
House Bill 4047, introduced on the floor as by Representative Beerline, would impose civil liability and criminal penalties for creating or disseminating explicit images generated without the subject’s consent. House Bill 4048, introduced by Representative Sernigloo, was presented as an amendment to the code of criminal procedure tied to the package.
The bills moved forward after a short floor debate that included an unsuccessful attempt to adopt an amendment to HB4047. Representative Cara argued in support of the amendment, saying the change “would amend section 5 subsection 1 and section 8 subsection 4 of house bill 4047” to ensure defendants could assert consent defenses based on more than written consent, including verbal consent. The clerk reported the amendment was put to the roll call and was not adopted.
Proponents framed the package as a response to growing harms from AI-enabled image manipulation. On the floor, Representative Cerner Glue described the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and said the bills “prohibit the creation and distribution of AI generated explicit images without consent.” Representative Bierlein called the package the “Protection from Intimate Deep Fakes Act,” and said the measures were intended to protect “the dignity, safety, and privacy of our constituents in an age when the technology is evolving faster than the law.”
After debate concluded, the clerk announced recorded votes. For HB4047 the clerk reported 104 yes votes and 1 no vote; a majority having voted in favor, the bill passed. The majority floor leader then moved for immediate effect; the motion for immediate effect was ordered. For HB4048 the clerk again reported 104 yes votes and 1 no vote; the bill passed and was granted immediate effect on the floor.
No individual vote-by-name roll call was provided in the transcript excerpt; the clerk published only the tallies and declared both bills passed. The transcript records the bills by their house bill numbers and includes proponents’ floor comments and the failed amendment attempt, but does not detail statutory text changes beyond the amendment labels and the floor descriptions.
The measures now move to whatever post-enactment steps are required under Michigan law for bills given immediate effect; the transcript does not specify subsequent administrative implementation steps or enforcement timelines.
Votes at a glance
- House Bill 4047 (introduced by Representative Beerline): Passed, 104–1. Amendment offered by Representative Karloff (to strike and amend section 5(1) and section 8(4) to add verbal-consent defense) not adopted. - House Bill 4048 (introduced by Representative Sernigloo): Passed, 104–1.
Speakers during floor debate identified in the transcript included Representative Beerline (bill introducer), Representative Sernigloo (co-introducer for HB4048), Representative Karloff (offered amendment), Representative Cara (spoke in favor of the amendment), Representative Cerner Glue (floor remarks on AI harms), Representative Bierlein (floor remarks in support), and Majority Floor Leader Meerman (moved bills to third reading and immediate-effect motions).
