Deepfakes, consent, and the law
The bright lines you must not cross.
AI image and video power raises serious ethical and legal lines — especially around real people. This lesson covers the bright lines you must not cross, because getting these wrong can cause real harm and real legal trouble. (General information, not legal advice.)
Never create non-consensual intimate or sexual imagery of a real person. This is the most serious line, and it's now explicitly illegal in the U.S. A federal law — the TAKE IT DOWN Act, signed in 2025 — criminalizes publishing (or threatening to publish) non-consensual intimate images, explicitly including AI-generated "deepfakes," and requires platforms to remove such images quickly after a valid request. Creating sexual deepfakes of a real person without consent is both deeply harmful and a federal crime. Full stop.
Don't fabricate real people saying or doing things. Making realistic images or video of a real, identifiable person (a public figure, a coworker, anyone) doing or saying things they didn't can constitute:
- Defamation (harming their reputation with falsehoods),
- Fraud or impersonation (deceiving people),
- Right-of-publicity / likeness violations (using someone's identity without permission — rules vary by U.S. state).
Even a "funny" fake of a real person can cross into serious harm and liability. Get consent before using any real person's likeness.
Respect platform rules. The tools and platforms themselves broadly prohibit non-consensual sexual content and deceptive impersonation — violating their policies can get you banned, and doesn't protect you from the legal issues above.
Disclose AI-generated media, especially of people or events. A growing norm (and, increasingly, a legal expectation) is to label AI-generated or heavily AI-edited media — particularly anything depicting real people or real events — so viewers aren't deceived. Passing off AI-generated content as real, especially involving real people or news, is how AI causes serious harm (misinformation, fraud, reputational damage).
The simple rules to live by:
- Never make non-consensual intimate imagery of anyone (illegal and harmful).
- Get consent before using a real person's likeness; don't fabricate them saying/doing things.
- Follow platform policies.
- Disclose AI-generated media, especially of people or real events.
The mindset: AI image and video carry hard ethical and legal lines around real people. Never create non-consensual intimate imagery — it's harmful and now a federal crime (the 2025 TAKE IT DOWN Act explicitly covers AI deepfakes). Don't fabricate real people saying or doing things (defamation, fraud, likeness violations); get consent before using anyone's likeness. Respect platform rules, and disclose AI-generated media — especially anything depicting real people or events — so you don't deceive. These aren't gray areas: consent and honesty are the bright lines. Create freely with AI, but never at the expense of a real person's rights, safety, or reputation.
Commit to the bright lines: (1) never create non-consensual intimate imagery of anyone (it's illegal — the TAKE IT DOWN Act); (2) get *consent* before using a real person's likeness, and never fabricate them saying/doing things; (3) *disclose* AI-generated media, especially of real people or events. Note which of these you most need to keep in mind for the kind of content you'd make.
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