Deepfake Defense: AI, Your Face, and the Law

Artificial intelligence can now generate realistic videos and audio of people saying and doing things they never actually did.

That’s not science fiction — it’s happening right now, and the law is racing to keep up.

In this camp, you’ll learn what legal tools already exist to fight back against deepfakes and where the gaps are.

You’ll start with the right of publicity — the legal principle that says your face, voice, and likeness belong to you, and no one can use them for commercial purposes without your permission. You’ll learn how this right varies from state to state and how it applies when AI is the tool being used.

From there, you’ll explore defamation law as it applies to deepfakes. If someone creates a fake video that makes it look like you said something you never said, that could be defamation — but only if it meets certain legal requirements. You’ll learn to distinguish between a deepfake that crosses the legal line and one that might be protected as parody or satire.

You’ll also dig into identity theft and fraud statutes. When someone uses AI to impersonate you for financial gain or to trick other people, federal and state criminal laws may apply. You’ll analyze scenarios where deepfake technology is used for scams, impersonation, and fraud.

Finally, one of the biggest questions in this area is platform liability. If someone posts a deepfake of you on social media, is the platform responsible? You’ll study Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which generally shields platforms from liability for user-generated content, and debate whether that immunity should extend to AI-generated fakes.

By the end of this camp, you’ll understand the legal landscape around deepfakes from multiple angles — civil and criminal — and you’ll be able to spot both the protections that exist and the ones that don’t yet.