HARTFORD, Conn. — Trying to regulate the fast-moving world of artificial intelligence, the Connecticut state Senate approved a sweeping bill Wednesday night that creates a framework designed to help consumers and avoid the downsides of AI.

Lawmakers have struggled for months in a balancing act to try to foster regulation at the same time as some officials are concerned about restricting the growth of artificial intelligence that can be used to make progress in a wide variety of fields, including health care.

As the bill has been crafted over the past two years with the help of a task force, one of the highest-profile issues has been to make it a crime to spread pornographic material that was generated by AI. Known as “deep fakes,” the images are generated by AI through videos and other means that would take a person’s image and distort it in a false way. False images were spread on the internet of famed singer Taylor Swift, which gained widespread attention. The same methods, however, can be used against average citizens and spread publicly as “revenge porn.”

After more than four hours of debate, the Senate voted 24-12 on strict partly lines as all Democrats were in favor and all Republicans were against. Some Republicans argued that the measure, known as Senate Bill 2, would be adding more regulations on small businesses.

The 53-page bill expands criminal laws that would now include “deep fakes” as the measure establishes “a new crime of unlawful dissemination of a synthetic intimate image” and prohibits anyone “from distributing any deceptive media before an election or primary.”

The measure requires the developers of artificial intelligence “to use reasonable care to protect consumers from any known or reasonably foreseeable risks of algorithmic discrimination” based on factors like age, religion or ethnicity, according to a nonpartisan bill summary.

The bill grants authority to the state attorney general to enforce the provisions of artificial intelligence.

Senate Democrats said they had made compromises to address the concerns of Gov. Ned Lamont, small businesses, and the state Department of Economic and Community Development that are concerned about keeping a business-friendly atmosphere for technology companies in Connecticut.

With only two weeks left in the legislative session that ends on May 8, lawmakers said they needed to take action. The measure also requires approval by the state House of Representatives and Lamont.

Sen. James Maroney, a Milford Democrat, has spearheaded various versions of the legislation as the co-chairman of the general law committee and is seen as the legislature’s leading expert on the topic.

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