SPRINGFIELD — The lawmakers in Illinois are considering the necessary adjustments to state legislation in response to the rise of artificial intelligence and its impact on society. The focus of the discussion on Tuesday was on legislation concerning Internet sex crimes against children.
During a House committee hearing, legislators deliberated on a proposal that would forbid the utilization of AI technology to produce child pornography, irrespective of whether it involves actual children or fabricated images that suggest lewd content.
The bill, which was successfully advanced through the House Judiciary Criminal Committee, is championed by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul. State Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, a Glenview Democrat leading the effort to align state laws with evolving technology, serves as its primary sponsor.
Gong-Gershowitz emphasized during the hearing that AI-generated content is rapidly approaching a stage where it is indistinguishable from genuine child pornography images.
She highlighted, “The proliferation of AI-generated child pornography material will pose significant challenges for law enforcement in combating child trafficking. The sheer volume of such content, coupled with the difficulty in discerning between real and AI-created depictions, will impede law enforcement efforts. While no actual child may be involved in AI-generated content, it normalizes abusive behavior, especially when simulating sexual exploitation of a child.”
David Haslett, the head of the attorney general’s office’s high-tech crimes bureau, expressed concerns that AI could complicate law enforcement’s ability to prosecute cases of child pornography due to the ambiguity surrounding the authenticity of images.
Haslett questioned, “How will the system address this issue when we cannot definitively prove whether the images involve real children or not? We aim to proactively address this to prevent a scenario where indistinguishable AI-generated content floods the market, making it pervasive and challenging to control.”
The proposed legislation seeks to amend the state’s child pornography law to encompass representations of individuals under 18 “who, through manipulation, creation, or alteration, appear to be engaged in sexual conduct.” It defines an “obscene depiction” as a visual portrayal encompassing images, videos, computer-generated images or videos, regardless of the method used to create or modify them.
Possessing or accessing such images could result in a maximum prison sentence of five years for a first offense, while producing or reproducing such content could lead to a prison term of up to 15 years.
During the debate, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois and some progressive Democrats raised concerns about equating penalties for computer-generated pornographic depictions involving children with those involving identifiable human victims.
Ben Ruddell, the director of criminal justice policy for the ACLU of Illinois, stated, “The primary concern is that the penalties for depictions of non-real children mirror existing penalties for actual child pornography, which entails severe harm to real victims. We believe this equivalence in punishment is disproportionate, as one does not equate to the other.”
State Rep. Will Guzzardi and State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, both Democrats from Chicago, also questioned the necessity of the legislation, with Cassidy expressing confidence in law enforcement’s ability to differentiate between authentic and AI-generated images.
Despite the reservations, the bill passed unanimously in the committee. Following the hearing, Attorney General Raoul emphasized the urgency of addressing the challenges posed by AI-altered images in child pornography to ensure accountability and justice for survivors and their families.
