Kansas HB 2479 (AI images in blackmail law)
Kansas HB 2479 (2026) — AI-Altered Sexual Images Added to Blackmail (K.S.A. 21-5428)
Kansas · 2026 Kan. HB 2479, amending K.S.A. 21-5428 (blackmail)
- Status
- In effect
- Took effect
- April 9, 2026
- Applies to
- Anyone who makes such threats (criminal prohibition applying to the general public).
- Enforced by
- Kansas county/district attorneys and the Kansas Attorney General (criminal prosecution); Kansas courts.
Kansas's blackmail law now expressly covers threats to release a nude or sexual image, video, or recording of an identifiable person even when that depiction was made or altered by artificial intelligence. It applies whether or not the person was involved in producing any original image, so threatening someone with an AI-generated 'deepfake' of them can be prosecuted as blackmail. Existing criminal penalties for blackmail apply.
Who is protected: Identifiable people targeted by threats to release real or AI-fabricated nude or sexual depictions of them.
Legal detail
HB 2479 amended K.S.A. 21-5428 so that blackmail by threatened dissemination reaches any image, video, or recording of a nude or sexually active identifiable person that 'has been created, in whole or in part, altered or modified by artificial intelligence or any digital means to appear to depict or purport to depict' that person.
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | Kansas |
|---|---|
| Level | State |
| Strength | Limited |
| Enacted | April 9, 2026 |
| Citation | 2026 Kan. HB 2479, amending K.S.A. 21-5428 (blackmail) |
| Private right of action | No, agency enforcement only |
| Penalties | Carries the existing criminal penalties for blackmail under Kansas law; no separate AI-specific penalty tier was created. |
| Topics | non-consensual intimate imagery · AI-generated images |
| Bill text | Kansas Legislature — HB 2479, Enrolled Bill (2025-2026 Session) |
More AI rules in Kansas
- KS Synthetic CSAM Law · In effect
- KS AI Foreign Platforms Ban · In effect
- Kansas HB 2537 'Caleb's Law' (AI sextortion) · In effect
- State of Kansas Generative Artificial Intelligence Policy (PPM 8200.00) · In effect
Related non-consensual intimate imagery rules elsewhere
- Arizona HB 2133 deepfake sexual content — vetoed 2026 · Vetoed
- Illinois HB 3851 — deepfake cyberbullying in schools (2026) · In effect
- TAKE IT DOWN Act · In effect
- DEFIANCE Act (deepfake-porn civil suits) · Proposed / pending
- NY S5959-D (2020, digital replicas + deepfake porn) · In effect
- Missouri Deepfake & Digital Media Protection Act · Proposed / pending
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