The Minnesota Senate is considering a bill that would ban the use of “nudification” technology.

It’s just what it sounds like: AI technology that can alter an image of someone and make them appear naked or even worse.

“They will take a photo or video of someone who is clothed and then make them naked. Nudify them. Show them without clothes on or engaged in sexual acts,” the bill’s lead author, Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley, said on Wednesday.

The bill calls for a penalty of $500,000 for each unlawful access or download of these altered images.

The Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee heard testimony from people warning of the technology’s wide availability and ease of use.

Sandi Johnson, senior legislative policy counsel for the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), said one “nudification” website advertises the ability to “Undress any girl you want.”

“These websites use a product design that profits from harming victims. Overwhelmingly, people in these photos do not consent to their image being manipulated,” Johnson testified. “… This bill will hold websites accountable for their product design, and we urge you to pass this bill.”

A victim of the technology, Megan Hurley, said someone she knew made an explicit image of her using a photo she posted to a private Facebook page, adding that the perpetrator did the same with roughly 80 other women.

“This has created irreversible harm to me and these other women, and I cannot overstate the damage this technology has done. It broke me open to be violated this way,” Hurley said.

The Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee considered the bill on Wednesday but did not take a vote to advance it.

The measure could be included in a larger public safety bill.