Deepfakes drive state AI laws - Axios

States have enacted 128 bills targeting deepfakes, according to an Axios analysis of data from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Axios says the count is drawn from its own analysis of the conference's legislative data.

The article attributes the concentration of state activity to the legal tools available. It states that deepfakes are among the AI issues that are easier for lawmakers to tackle, because existing laws around impersonation, deception and commercial rights provide a legal framework that can extend to AI. The bills counted are enacted laws rather than introduced proposals.

That relationship between existing law and newer technology is presented as the reason state action has clustered around deepfakes rather than other areas of AI. Axios states that AI-manipulated content is the most legislated AI issue in the U.S., a position the article ties to the availability of the impersonation, deception and commercial rights framework. The article describes this as a case of existing law providing a route to regulation, rather than the creation of a new legal category. The 128 enacted bills are the article's central figure for state legislative output on AI-manipulated content.