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Senate adds sentencing enhancements for crimes that use artificial intelligence; bill passes
Summary
Senate Bill 9 was passed to update obscenity, fraud and related statutes to account for use of artificial intelligence in committing crimes, including enhanced sentencing provisions when AI is used to produce illicit images or commit fraud.
The Georgia Senate on March 5 approved Senate Bill 9, titled the Ensuring Accountability for Illegal AI Activities Act, which updates criminal statutes dealing with obscene material distribution, fraud and related offenses to account for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the commission of such crimes.
Sponsor Senator Albers told the chamber the bill was recommended by the Senate study committee on artificial intelligence and aims to ensure that people who use AI to create illicit images, conduct fraud, or otherwise facilitate criminal activity can be charged with enhanced penalties where applicable. The sponsor cited recent local incidents in which AI tools were used to create illicit images as impetus for the change.
Floor questions focused on the scope of sentencing enhancements and how prosecutors would apply them in cases where no real-person victim exists (for example, AI-generated images that depict a non-existent person). Sponsors said the enhancement targets misuse of technology that increases the scale or harm of an offense and that charging decisions would remain within prosecutors’ discretion.
The committee substitute was adopted on the floor and the Senate passed the bill 46-9. Sponsors said the measure aims to deter misuse of AI by creating clear statutory authority for enhanced penalties when AI materially amplifies criminal conduct.
