{"id":6357,"date":"2026-04-17T03:27:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T03:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/6357\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T03:27:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T03:27:34","slug":"trying-everything-we-can-victims-lawmakers-push-for-stricter-ai-regulations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/6357\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Trying everything we can\u2019: Victims, lawmakers push for stricter AI regulations"},"content":{"rendered":"

FLOYD COUNTY, Ind. (WAVE) – With the recent arrest of a 20-year-old Floyd County man for AI pornographic material, it has raised questions about what protections are in place for victims. It\u2019s a question that lawmakers have been working to answer for a few years now, but the victims of those crimes do not think they have gone far enough. <\/p>\n

Almost a year after being confronted with the discovery of pornographic AI images on his phone, Harrison Prifogle of Floyds Knobs was indicted on two charges<\/a>: child exploitation, a felony, and distribution of an intimate image, a misdemeanor.<\/p>\n

According to the probable cause affidavit, Prifogle admitted to having an AI Generator Program alter pictures of two co-workers. One of them was 17-years-old. Prifogle allegedly removed their clothes in some images he had taken, sharing them in a social media chat. <\/p>\n

As it stands right now, because this is Prifogle\u2019s first offense, he can only be charged with a misdemeanor for the AI image of his adult co-worker. <\/p>\n

One Indiana lawmaker tried, but failed, to change that penalty in the 2026 session with HB 1183<\/a>. He was surprised it was never called up by the committee chair for consideration.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverwhelmingly, I heard from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle that, you know, this is something needed. It\u2019s important,\u201d State Rep. Craig Haggard said. <\/p>\n

Rep. Haggard knows the real impacts of AI-generated pornography, often known as a deepfake. His wife was a victim of a deepfake last year. <\/p>\n

In the 2026 session, he asked lawmakers to increase the penalties for distribution of the sexually explicit AI material from a misdemeanor to a Level 6 felony, modeled closely after the federal \u2018TAKE IT DOWN Act.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that we\u2019re trying to keep a rein on. And the problem with AI is that we\u2019re holding onto the tail,\u201d Rep. Haggard explained. \u201cIt\u2019s just advancing so quick – we pass some, but by the time we pass it, we need to pass more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similar efforts to strengthen the AI regulations in Kentucky failed in 2026. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s scary because we have more crimes that are being more frequent, and this crime is growing. It\u2019s continuing to grow,\u201d John Burnett said. <\/p>\n

Shannon Heacock and Burnett, from Glasgow, have fought for changes every day since their son, Elijah, committed suicide at 16 after strangers online used a sexual AI image of him to extort him for cash. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of misinformation out there that it\u2019s grooming, that it takes months. No, it took 20 minutes to get our kid,\u201d Heacock said. \u201cTwenty minutes, 150 messages, and $50. That\u2019s all it took.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2024, Kentucky lawmakers passed protections for minors against sexually explicit and AI material<\/a>, creating levels for felony charges for sextortion depending on the age of the child and if they suffered physical harm. <\/p>\n

However, Heacock does not feel the regulations around AI in the state go far enough to protect against AI crimes. Heacock said it feels like they are fighting for changes alone, while the problem only gets worse. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t help but to go visit the cemetery and apologize to him, because I am trying,\u201d Heacock said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying everything we can. Not for, you know, this is not just for Elisha. This is for kids everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elijah\u2019s family says they will continue to push the issue. They emphasize that now is the time for real AI regulation. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WAVE. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FLOYD COUNTY, Ind. (WAVE) – With the recent arrest of a 20-year-old Floyd County man for AI pornographic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,5878,25,5873,2229,5879,5877,5876,5875,4448,487,2354,5874],"class_list":{"0":"post-6357","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ai","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-ai-generator","10":"tag-artificial-intelligence","11":"tag-computer-generated","12":"tag-deepfake","13":"tag-fake","14":"tag-floyd-county","15":"tag-harrison-prifogle","16":"tag-indiana","17":"tag-kentucky","18":"tag-lawmaker","19":"tag-sexually-explicit","20":"tag-victim"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}