Bill addresses vulnerability to AI-generated sexual exploitation: state attorney general
The NSW government has announced plans to criminalise the creation and distribution of sexually explicit deepfakes or those created entirely using artificial intelligence (AI) and introduce the Victim Rights and Victims of Crime Commissioner Bill 2025 to NSW Parliament.
“This Government takes image-based abuse seriously, and these new laws will criminalise behaviour that is becoming more common with the use of AI,” said Jodie Harrison, minister for women and the prevention of domestic violence and sexual assault, in the media release.
“Rapid developments in AI have made it easy to create extremely life-like, sexually explicit depictions of real people,” said Hannah Tonkin, NSW women’s safety commissioner. “These images are humiliating and degrading in themselves, and they can be shared widely and used for intimidation or extortion.”
Newly introduced legislation, which will amend the Crimes Act 1900, will expand the existing offences pertaining to producing and distributing intimate images. The media release from the NSW government noted that deepfakes are those aiming to genuinely depict a real and identifiable person.
NSW said it plans to impose an offence punishable by a maximum of three years’ imprisonment for creating and distributing deepfakes or sharing or threatening to share these images, even if the person did not create them.
NSW added that it intends to outlaw creating, recording, and distributing sexually explicit audio, whether real or designed to sound like a real and identifiable person.
NSW currently criminalises recording or distributing intimate images, including those digitally altered, of somebody without their consent or threatening to do so.
With the newly introduced legislation, NSW said it seeks to align the state with other jurisdictions that have outlawed non-consensually producing and distributing sexually explicit material involving adults, regardless of its manner of creation.
“This bill closes a gap in NSW legislation that leaves women vulnerable to AI-generated sexual exploitation,” said Michael Daley, NSW attorney general, in the media release. “We are ensuring that anyone who seeks to humiliate, intimidate or degrade someone using AI can be prosecuted.”
“These changes catch up with the ways we know that AI is being harnessed to cause real life harm, particularly to women,” said Karen Bevan, Full Stop Australia CEO. “The new law directly acknowledges the serious impacts that production and distribution of this non-consensual material have on victim-survivors.”
In its media release, NSW noted that the amendments would not impact existing child abuse material offences already criminalising the production, possession, and dissemination of explicit material involving children.
The newly introduced Victim Rights and Victims of Crime Commissioner Bill seeks to establish an independent commissioner to advocate for victim survivors of crime.
“The Minns Labor Government stands with victim survivors of crime, and we are fulfilling our promise to establish a strong, independent advocate,” Daley said in a media release from the state government.
According to the media release, the new commissioner will:
“The Independent Victims Commissioner will be integral in shaping policies affecting victim survivors,” Daley said. “Importantly, they will be completely independent of Government and empowered to champion the interests of victim survivors.”
The legislation will also rename the Victims Rights and Support Act 2013 as the Victims Support Act 2013 and authorise the independent victims commissioner to appoint a new Victims Advisory Committee to replace the existing Victims Advisory Board.
According to the media release, the new committee will include:
In its media release, NSW noted that this legislation reflects the findings of detailed and thorough consultation with important groups such as victims’ support bodies and justice agencies.
