About the Course
Introduction
This CLE webinar will examine AI-driven harassment in the workplace, including deepfakes, and the potential risk of discrimination and harassment claims for employers. The panel will provide an update on key federal and state legislation aimed at AI misuse, discuss lessons to be learned from notable cases, and provide best practices for mitigating the risk of claims caused by AI-driven harassment in the workplace.
Description
The misuse of AI to generate fake, sexually explicit, or harassing content is now impacting the workplace and creating potentially significant liability for employers. Doctored images or videos targeting an employee based on a protected characteristic could give rise to costly harassment or discrimination claims.
In Carranza v. City of Los Angeles, a sexually explicit photo that resembled the plaintiff and was said to be of her was circulated among LAPD personnel, and the department failed to take corrective action. The jury awarded the plaintiff $4 million in noneconomic damages and concluded the harassment was severe or pervasive enough to alter her work environment. The appellate court recently affirmed the judgment.
Two other notable lawsuits recently filed include those brought by a Washington State Patrol trooper (Pearson v. State of Washington) and a Nashville television meteorologist (Friedrichs v. Scripps Media) who both alleged they were targeted in sexualized AI-generated images that their employers did not adequately address.
AI-driven harassment goes beyond generating deepfake pornography. For example, disgruntled employees have used AI to clone the voices of managers to create audio files that included racially derogatory comments that were then circulated, severely impacting the targeted employees. In at least one instance, the manager was falsely accused of discrimination.
As a result of the increase in AI-driven harassment, legislation is rapidly evolving, potentially increasing litigation risks for employers. In addition to the federal TAKE IT DOWN Act, states are responding with a patchwork of legislation targeting AI harassment. Therefore, it is imperative that employment counsel be up to date on legislation and understand how to advise their clients on putting measures into place to mitigate risks posed by the misuse of AI in the workplace.
Listen as our expert panel discusses the rise of AI-driven harassment in the workplace, examines the evolving legislative landscape, and offers best practices for employers to mitigate risks of discrimination claims based on AI misuse.
Presented By
Mr. Gatto provides strategic advice on IP, regulatory, and transactional matters relating to disruptive technologies and business models. A decades-long thought leader in the areas of AI, robotics, quantum computing, blockchain, fintech, interactive entertainment, and open source, he brings deep understanding of business, technology and the law to the advice he provides to clients. Mr. Gatto advises on all aspects of IP strategy, licensing and enforcement, technology transactions and agreements, and tech-related regulatory issues such as securities, gambling and AML. A skilled strategist, he speaks the language of business executives, engineers and lawyers. Mr. Gatto identifies technology trends early, thinks through the business, technological and legal issues, and helps clients manage risk as few lawyers can. Having founded Sheppard’s games, blockchain and AI teams, and as current co-leader of the Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain & Fintech teams and leader of the Open Source team, he brings highly developed leadership skills to his work for clients. Mr. Gatto teaches a class on AI legal issues at George Mason Law School.
Mr. Tyra is a trial attorney representing public and private sector clients in complex litigation. His practice focuses on class action and multi-party disputes in employment, commercial, and environmental matters. Mr. Tyra represents private and public sector employers in labor and employment law actions as well as provides advice and counsel. His practice covers all aspects of labor and employment law, including wage-hour actions, employee leave matters, workplace discrimination and harassment, workplace privacy, and unfair labor practice claims. Mr. Tyra's litigation experience includes representing employers in federal and state courts. He also represents local and national companies in contract disputes, fraud claims, contractors and owners in construct defect claims, public entities in defense of civil rights (42 U.S.C. § 1983) claims, and represents public sector clients and landowners in basin-wide groundwater adjudications.
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This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
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Date + Time
- event
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
- schedule
1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT
I. Introduction
A. The rise of AI-driven harassment in the workplace
II. Potential harassment and discrimination claims
A. Targeting protected characteristics
B. Lessons learned from notable case law
III. Federal and state legislative update
A. Potential employer risks and penalties
IV. Best practices for employers
A. Policy development
B. Technical safeguards
C. Incident response and investigations
D. Other
V. Key takeaways
The panel will review these and other important issues:
- How is AI-driven harassment becoming more common in the workplace? Leaving employers open to what types of claims?
- How has federal and state legislation evolved to address AI-driven harassment?
- What are best practices for mitigating employer risk of AI-driven harassment and discrimination claims?
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