Georgia AI, social media bills target internet safety

Georgia lawmakers have introduced several bills this legislative session to deal with the impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) and social media.

Although some pieces of legislation will make it past Crossover Day, others aren’t so lucky.

Senate Bill 398 would make “virtual peeping” a felony and punishable by up to 10 years in prison. “Virtual peeping” refers to the use of AI and other tools to violate a person’s privacy by creating or viewing images or videos without the person’s consent.

“There are artificial intelligence platforms that allow a person to take an ordinary photograph of someone — your wife, your daughter, your coworker, your friend — and with a few clicks digitally remove their clothing to fabricate an explicit image,” said state Sen. Bo Hatchett, R-Cornelia, on the Senate floor last month. “It’s being used as a bullying tactic in schools. It’s being used for revenge, and it’s being used to destroy reputations. As a father of daughters, I cannot ignore that.”

The bill passed the Senate 48-1 in February.

Here are bills that passed committee last week meaning they might make the cut before Crossover Day.

• Senate Bill 540 aims to increase internet safety by allowing the state attorney general to fine companies of AI that do not provide specific information to its users or fail to establish guardrails against sharing sexually explicit material with children.
• Senate Bill 418 would hold people accountable who manipulate and distribute a person’s image in a sexually explicit way.
• Senate Bill 488 would allow liability lawsuits against product sellers who, in specific instances, expose minors to AI.
• House Bill 566, or the NO FAKES Act of 2025, would prohibit AI replicas of licensed voices and likenesses.

Here are the bills that might not make it.

• Senate Bill 495 would regulate how platforms harvest personal data and use it to feed algorithms. The law would apply special restrictions to platforms with an audience made of at least 2% of minors.
• House Bill 478 would require AI-generated content to have a disclaimer.