Federal appeals court says First Amendment protects possession of AI-generated child sexual abuse images
The panel said the law cannot reach possession of AI-generated child sexual abuse images in the home and called for Supreme Court guidance.
- On Tuesday, Seventh Circuit Judge John Lee ruled that federal law is unconstitutional as applied to Steven Anderegg because the images involved AI-generated depictions rather than real children.
- The court concluded that Supreme Court precedent in Free Speech Coalition controls this case, since AI-generated CSAM is virtually indistinguishable from material created through abuse, yet the statute requires depicting actual children.
- Judge Lee wrote a concurring opinion to note that given rapid artificial intelligence advancements, the Supreme Court should provide guidance on the First Amendment and virtual CSAM intersection.
- Justice Thomas previously forecasted that technology may evolve to the point where the government cannot prove certain pornographic images are of real children, complicating enforcement.
- Researchers found that a major dataset used for training image-generating AI contained hundreds of actual CSAM images, complicating the government's objective of surpassing importance in preventing child exploitation.
16 Articles
16 Articles
Appeals court delivers unsettling ruling — and says Supreme Court left it no choice – Democratic Accent
A federal appeals court says decades-old Supreme Court precedent forced it to protect the in-home possession of AI-generated child sexual abuse material, as judges warned that rapidly advancing technology has complicated legal lines drawn nearly 25 years ago. The ruling exposes a widening gap between Supreme Court precedent and rapidly advancing artificial intelligence. The Seventh Circuit said it was bound by a 2002 Supreme Court decision that …
You Can’t Be Charged For Possessing AI Child Porn, Court Rules
A federal appeals court has ruled that the First Amendment protects the private possession of AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM), provided that the images do not depict real children, a decision that exposes a startling gap between decades-old Supreme Court precedent and modern artificial intelligence.The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the government cannot prosecute Steven Anderegg for possessing AI-generated …
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