Measures to ban AI-generated child porn advance in states around the nation

Texas is among several states cracking down on AI-generated child pornography, with bipartisan support.

The Texas Senate unanimously passed legislation this week to update its definition of child sex abuse materials to include AI-generated content.

Sen. Tan Parker, R-Dallas, one of the bill’s authors, said lawmakers want to work swiftly to close the legal loophole.

“The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence has created powerful tools that, while being beneficial in many areas, are being exploited to produce AI-generated and virtual” child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, Parker told KSAN. “Unlike traditional CSAM, which is already illegal, AI-generated images, videos and deep fakes depicting child exploitation exist in a legal gray area, allowing offenders to create and share disturbing content with impunity. This loophole must be closed immediately.”

If the Texas legislation becomes law, it will take effect on Sept. 1.

Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, wants to see it take effect even sooner. 

“There are not enough negative adjectives out there to describe people that would use a computer software animation or something to depict the child in some form of pornography or obscene visual material,” Menéndez told KSAN. “I would like to see what we could do to get any material or any people that are possessing or creating this material to understand that they’re going to be dealt with severely through the criminal justice system and that we’re not going to tolerate this.” 

As of December 2024, 14 states had specific laws on the books barring AI-generated child pornography, with most being signed into law last year, according to NewsNation. 

More states could follow suit. 

Lawmakers in Kansas, Nevada, Georgia and elsewhere have filed similar legislation. 

A Georgia measure passed unanimously out of the House Technology and Infrastructure Committee earlier this month, inching closer to a vote.  

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford told 8 News that AI-generated child porn can victimize people for many years. 

“A child who was rescued from sexual abuse in 2018 is still being victimized today because predators are using AI to create new fake child pornography with her face,” the Democrat said. “These deepfakes keep the abuse going long after she was saved. And because of advancements in artificial intelligence, it’s actually harder than ever to track and remove these images.” 

Last year, a bipartisan coalition of 44 state attorneys general urged Congress to pass a measure outlawing AI-generated child porn nationally. However, the proposal never came up for a vote during last session. 

A new measure, Protecting Our Children in an AI World Act of 2025 (H.R.1283), is pending before the current Congress. It was referred to the House Judiciary Committee last month.