On July 7, 2025, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro enacted a new Digital Forgery Law by signing SB 649 into law, which will take effect in 60 days. SB 649 creates “new criminal penalties for anyone who uses artificial intelligence (AI) to produce non-consensual “forged digital likenesses” — like deepfakes or voice clones — to defraud or harm Pennsylvanians. Under the new law, prosecutors can now charge bad actors with a third-degree felony if they use AI-generated fake content to commit fraud or cause injury — including schemes like faking a grandchild’s voice to trick older adults into sending money.” The new law has certain exceptions, including for “constitutionally protected activity” and official law enforcement activities. The law also recognizes affirmative defenses where the defendant “took reasonable action to place viewers or listeners of the forged digital likeness on notice that the forged digital likeness was not genuine.”
