In the wake of a New Mexico man being arrested for using artificial intelligence to create child sexual abuse material, the attorney general is supporting new legislation to regulate AI.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez and Rep. Linda Serrato (D- Santa Fe) announced proposed legislation Thursday to regulate how AI is treated in the courts.
“What we are trying to create is a standard legal framework that will allow for the responsible use of this technology,” Torrez said.
The bill would require AI software companies and platforms to include digital markers that would allow law enforcement to trace where harmful AI content came from. NMDOJ could fine companies $15,000 per day if they’re out of compliance.
The bill also targets individual creators and disseminators of unlawful AI by including charge enhancements when AI was used to help commit an underlying crime. For every charge, one year will be added to the penalty if AI was utilized to commit a crime.
“We think this is appropriate given the speed and scale and potential harm,” Torrez said “We know generative AI will be used to commit fraud, to commit theft, to commit extortion.”
Lastly, the bill gives victims of generative AI the ability to claim damages from creators or disseminators of up to $1,000 dollars for each view or impression the content gets.
President Trump signed an executive order in December to create an AI task force that would challenge state AI laws. Torrez says that he believes that the bipartisan effort to regulate Big Tech, and AI specifically, should give the administration pause on cracking down on efforts to regulate. Torrez said that the state is prepared for any legal action the Trump administration might take, but hopes the administration would not take that step. According to Torrez, only a law passed by Congress specifically preventing states from regulating AI would give the administration any basis for a lawsuit.
Both Torrez and Serrato emphasized the state is not trying to curb the AI industry or stifle innovation.
“This is an opportunity for New Mexico to show how we can create an ecosystem where AI works for us,” Serrato said.
This legislation is not the only proposal to regulate AI in the state. Rep. Christine Chandler (D- Las Alamos, Sandoval, Santa Fe) has two filed pieces of proposed legislation addressing AI, one that requires businesses and state agencies to notify consumers about how they use AI, and another that makes the nonconsensual distribution of sensitive AI deepfakes a misdemeanor, with subsequent charges upped to a fourth-degree felony. Torrez said that he and Serrato are in step with Chandler’s legislation, but would like the first charge for deepfake distribution to be increased to a felony.
More legislation appears to be on the way. Serrato said that she has had conversations with colleagues who are also planning to introduce their own legislation to regulate AI.
The biggest hurdle all of this legislation faces is getting Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham onboard. Non-budget related items must be on the governor’s call in the 30-day session. Both Serrato and Torrez say they’ve talked to the Governor and feel optimistic about it being approved for the session.
If any of this legislation is passed, it would be a vast expansion of the state’s AI policy. Currently, New Mexico only has one law addressing the use of AI, which prohibits the use of AI in political advertising without a clear disclaimer.
