For the second year in a row, Sen. Joe Nicola, R-Grain Valley, introduced a bill that would require people who use artificial intelligence in political ads to include disclaimers to clarify AI was used in their creation.
His measure, which received bipartisan praise at a Senate hearing Monday, also would ban sexually explicit deepfake videos and images depicting minors. If passed, it would be the first legislation in the state specifically regulating artificial intelligence.
“It is becoming more and more difficult to distinguish what is real and what is not,” he told the Senate Committee on Local Government, Elections and Pensions.
Artificial intelligence has the potential to harm democratic systems, said Ash Johnson, senior policy manager of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C. In the absence of federal law, “it makes sense for states to be coming up with the rules of the road there,” she said.
Nicola’s bill is among a handful of proposals in the Missouri General Assembly this year to regulate AI. Other measures include rules for chatbots and protections for children.
Of eight Missouri Senate bills introduced this year related to artificial intelligence, only Nicola’s has received a hearing. Two of at least nine bills in the House related to AI received a hearing earlier this month. Both House bills are titled "AI Non-Sentience and Responsibility Act."
At the hearing Monday, Nicola combined into one bill language from another of his proposals, Senate Bill 1474. Language from that measure is similar to the House bills. It seeks to ensure AI systems would be considered nonsentient entities, meaning they cannot own property, be considered a person or spouse. If harm results from AI systems, the person directing the AI would be held responsible.
“Missouri law will not allow anyone to say, 'It's the machine's fault.' Liability cannot be avoided by blaming autonomy, complexity or black box algorithms,” Nicola said.
His proposal also would make it illegal to create “intimate” deepfakes of children younger than 18 years old. A deepfake is a video or image that appears realistic but was created using artificial intelligence. Machine learning techniques make it possible to manipulate someone’s image and voice to produce a deepfake video showing the person saying or doing something that did not happen in reality.
Nicola’s bill defines “intimate” as including nudity or pornography.
AI-generated pornography depicting real women and children without their consent has circulated online for years. The phenomenon generated headlines and outrage in 2024 when fake images of pop star Taylor Swift circulated on social media.
In January, AI tool Grok, hosted on social media platform X, generated approximately 3 million sexualized images of men, women and children, according to an estimate by the Center on Countering Digital Hate. An update to the tool allowed users to request Grok edit images of real people, including removing their clothing and depicting them nude or in bathing suits.
"We need to get ahead of this," Senate Minority Floor Leader Doug Beck, D-South St. Louis County, said at the hearing.
In May, Congress passed the Take It Down Act, bipartisan legislation creating stricter penalties for people who distribute nonconsensual intimate imagery, sometimes called “revenge porn,” including both real and artificial intelligence-generated imagery. No federal rules exist to regulate AI use in election materials.
Missouri lawmakers passed a bill in 2018 banning revenge porn. “The difference here, between revenge porn and (AI-generated content), this is actually just completely made up,” said committee chair Sen. Mike Henderson, R-Bonne Terre.
A Missouri tech entrepreneur was the sole testifier at Monday's hearing. Alexander Bischoff, chief technology officer at a software company that builds AI platforms based in Arnold, lauded the bill’s framework. He asked lawmakers not to “over-legislate” but did not offer specific amendments.
“Us small businesses, we've got to stay around and innovate,” he said.
The Missouri Senate hearing comes two months after President Donald Trump signed an executive order that aims to stop states from regulating AI over concerns a patchwork of legislation across the country will stifle the burgeoning sector.
Trump is seeking to prohibit states from passing laws that conflict with federal policy, but federal policy does not yet exist.
Nicola agrees Congress should create uniform regulations.
“In the meantime, we have to protect our citizens here in Missouri," he said in an interview. "That's why we're elected, to protect their rights and their freedom.”
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