DEFIANCE Act of 2025

• Authority: United States Congress
• Parent authority: Federal government
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: U.S. federal laws
• Most recent activity: Proposed
• Most recent activity date: 2026-01-13

Risk subdomain coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the risk subdomain are explicitly described.

• Exposure to toxic content
• Compromise of privacy
• Fraud, scams, and targeted manipulation

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the risk subdomain are described.

• False or misleading information
• Loss of human agency and autonomy
• AI possessing dangerous capabilities

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

The document has good coverage of approximately 5-6 subdomains, with strong focus on toxic content (1.2), privacy compromise (2.1), fraud and manipulation (4.3), and aspects of false information (3.1) and loss of autonomy (5.2). Coverage is concentrated in harms related to non-consensual intimate digital forgeries, including privacy violations, sexual abuse imagery, and targeted manipulation.

Sector coverage

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the sector are described.

• Information
• Scientific Research & Development Services
• Public Administration (excl. National Security)

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

The DEFIANCE Act is largely sector-agnostic, creating individual civil rights rather than regulating specific industries. It implicitly affects the Information sector (content platforms, hosting services, AI developers) but includes safe harbor provisions. The Act applies across all sectors wherever intimate digital forgeries are created or disclosed.

Legislative Status

Hard Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a binding federal statute enacted by the U.S. Congress that creates enforceable legal rights, specifies mandatory obligations, establishes civil penalties and damages, and will be enforced through federal district courts.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Summary: The document is a federal legislative act enacted by the U.S. Congress, as evidenced by the formal enactment language and passage notation.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Developer, AI_Deployer, AI_User
• Summary: The Act targets any person who knowingly produces, possesses with intent to disclose, discloses, or solicits intimate digital forgeries without consent of the depicted individual. This includes AI developers creating such tools, deployers using them, and end users generating or sharing such content.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor, Affected_Stakeholder
• Summary: Enforcement occurs through civil actions brought in federal district courts. The Act creates a private right of action allowing victims themselves to enforce their rights by filing lawsuits. Legal guardians may also bring actions on behalf of minors or incapacitated persons.

Monitor

• Summary: The Act does not establish a formal monitoring body or oversight mechanism. Enforcement is entirely reactive, dependent on victims bringing civil actions. There are no provisions for systematic monitoring, reporting requirements, or designated oversight agencies.

AI Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages covered by the documents, as defined in the OECD Framework for the Classification of AI Systems

• Build and Use Model
• Deploy
• Operate and Monitor

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document primarily addresses the Deploy and Operate/Monitor stages of the AI lifecycle, focusing on the disclosure, distribution, and ongoing use of AI-generated intimate digital forgeries. It does not substantively cover earlier stages such as planning, data collection, model building, or verification.

Technical Scope

Terms relating to technical scope that are mentioned or implicitly referenced in the document

• AI Models
• AI Systems
• Generative AI

Technical Scope Summary

The document explicitly mentions AI, machine learning, and software as technologies used to create digital forgeries. It specifically addresses generative AI capable of creating synthetic images and videos. The document does not mention frontier AI, general purpose AI, foundation models, compute thresholds, or open-weight models.