Attorneys general from all 50 states have come together to send a letter to Congress. They want better protection against AI-generated child sexual abuse images.
The letter asks lawmakers to create a group of experts to study how AI can harm children. The attorneys also want the laws to cover AI-generated images and videos of child abuse. Right now, there aren’t specific rules for these types of images.
The attorneys wrote in the letter that we need to act quickly to protect children from AI dangers. They believe that in the future, as AI software becomes more accessible, it could be used to create harmful content. Even the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, has said that government intervention can help reduce the risks of AI tools.
However, the government tends to be slow when it comes to technology. It took Congress several years to address the threat of online child abusers in the past.
So, there’s no immediate indication that Congress will create laws to stop AI generators from making harmful images. Even the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act doesn’t mention risks to children specifically.
The Attorney General of South Carolina, Alan Wilson, organized the letter and wants colleagues to check if current laws cover this new technology.
Wilson warns about deepfake content that uses real images or videos of children, even though it may not be conventional child abuse. He says that our laws might not consider the virtual nature of this situation.
The technology could also be used to create fake children using data from a database, which could lead to the production of more abuse materials. Wilson argues that this would create a demand for exploiting children.
Although the idea of deepfake child sexual abuse is new, the tech industry has been aware of deepfake pornography and has taken steps to prevent it.
Companies like Meta, OnlyFans, and P*rnhub have started using a tool called Take It Down, which allows teenagers to report explicit images and videos of themselves online. This tool works for both regular and AI-generated content.
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