The federal government is threatening to ban states from enforcing artificial intelligence laws for 10 years (page 278 of the Big Beautiful Bill sent from the U.S. House has the moratorium).

Still, national uncertainty has not stopped Pennsylvania lawmakers from casting votes on the topic.

Artificial intelligence can motivate innovation… and be dangerously abused. Pennsylvania lawmakers voted on two bills this week that govern a largely unregulated technology.

Today, SB 649 heads to the governor's desk to be signed into law. The bill classifies digital deepfakes (often created using artificial intelligence) as digital forgery. If found guilty, someone could be charged with a felony.

“Nowadays, you can't tell almost what's real and what's not real, and people's lives can be completely upended,” said Sen. Tracy Pennycuick, a Republican senator from southeast Pennsylvania who sponsored the bill/

A digital deepfake is when someone creates a fake picture/video/audio recording of a real person— without their consent—  and pretends the fake is real for malicious goals.

Examples range from attacking someone’s reputation to faking a grandchild’s voice in a scam against a senior citizen.

“AI is a great tool. But we need to make sure that we're keeping the bad actors out and letting AI flourish in innovation,” Pennycuick said.

Pennsylvania has around 2 laws on the books that specifically deal with artificial intelligence. The federal government has no laws about the technology, though several of president Donald Trump’s executive orders enforce guard rails on the issue.

“I always feel like with AI, we're almost behind the power curve every day,” Pennycuick said. "So getting legislation out there that protects consumers is so important.”

Also this week, the Pennsylvania House voted unanimously (203-0) in favor of HB811.

“Everyone— republican and Democrat— understands that artificial intelligence and the use of artificial intelligence in deception is out of bounds,” said Rep. Bob Merski, an Erie Democrat who co-sponsored HB811.

The bill says that political campaigns must disclose if an ad has deceptive artificial intelligence portrayals. Merski says the bill is a response to election integrity concerns.

“I can't think of anything that disturbs integrity more than faking someone out and putting someone else's image, likeness and voice to something that they didn't say or didn't do,” Merski said, “and then presenting that as truth.”