Amendments to the Sexual Offences Law 2020 will seek to address nine areas.
Seven relating to sexual imagery, and a further two to fix gaps that have been identified since the law was first introduced.
They largely look to tackle the use of AI, voyeurism, and the creation of images without consent.
Home Affairs president Marc Leadbeater said that the advent of AI had allowed sexual offenders to evolve criminal behaviour in new ways.
‘We must ensure we stay ahead of that curve in order to protect our community,’ he said.
‘The committee was concerned to learn that Guernsey Police have dealt with cases involving intimate AI images, or similar, in recent months, and so was determined to act swiftly to protect victims of this type of offending.
'We will also be taking the opportunity to enhance some other areas of the legislation, with regard to indecent images of children, and the powers the criminal justice system has in order to protect the community.’
The move follows feedback and recommendations from police and the law officers, and challenges they have faced in recent and historic cases which local legislation has made difficult to investigate.
Under the proposed reforms, deepfake creation, where the image is intimate, and no consent is obtained, would become an offence, as would creating or taking intimate images without consent, along with sharing these images.
Other new offences will include cyberflashing, requesting deepfakes, and possession of indecent cartoons or drawings of children.
Finally, the amendments will broaden the application of Risk of Sexual Harm Orders which can be used by the court to prevent a person causing any harm to children.
In 2015 England and Wales increased the scope of ROSHOs, and changes locally would mirror those, allowing them to be used for proactive intervention.
‘In recent months, the criminal investigation department has carried out investigations where AI technology has been involved in potential offending,’ said Detective Inspector Thomas Lowe.
‘While we investigated each case, it quickly became clear there were gaps in the legislation and a need for the creation of specific offences for activities like creating deepfakes.’
He added that deepfakes or ‘revenge porn’ type offending could be hugely damaging to victims and had serious consequences.
‘It is abhorrent, and we will always treat it as such,’ he said.
‘Equally, voyeurism and taking images of people without their consent is a huge breach of people’s right to privacy.
'Our main goal is always to safeguard victims and ensure offenders are brought to justice, and I hope these new amendments, when passed, will allow us to do that more effectively.’
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