Does a California bill to outlaw AI-generated child porn ‘run afoul’ of the First Amendment?

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BILL OUTLAWS AI-GENERATED CHILD PORN. OPPONENTS WARN IT RUNS AGAINST FIRST AMENDMENT

Machine learning, also known as artificial intelligence or AI, is everywhere these days. Unfortunately, that includes child porn, also known as Child Sexual Abuse Materials or CSAM.

Five middle school students in Beverly Hills were recently expelled after they used AI to generate nude photos of their female classmates.

Now, Assemblyman Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, has introduced AB 1831, which would make the creation of such content a felony offense punishable by up to three years in state prison.

In his remarks introducing the bill before the Assembly Public Safety Committee on Tuesday, Berman said that such content is often indistinguishable from actual CSAM, and that actual CSAM was used to train the AI to generate that content.

“The process of creating AI-generated sexually explicit images of minors victimizes thousands of children because an AI program must first learn what these images look like by using existing real images of children,” Berman said in an author’s statement for the bill including in the committee analysis.

Testifying on behalf of of the bill Tuesday was child actor Kaylin Hayman, 16, star of Disney’s “Just Roll With It,” who was a victim of generated CSAM when she was 12 years old. She spoke of how her innocence was torn away from her when she learned of the images that were created.

The bill passed through the committee by unanimous vote, despite opposition from the American Civil Liberties Union California Action.

“While we appreciate the potential harms caused by many forms of new technology, we fear that the current version of AB 1831 improperly restricts lawful speech and runs afoul of the First Amendment,” the ACLU noted in its opposition.

COULD CALIFORNIA ENACT AGE-VERIFICATION FOR ONLINE PORN?

Recently, online adult video streaming website Pornhub announced that it would no longer be available in Texas, the nation’s second-most populous state, after state lawmakers there passed a law requiring age-verification before users can access the site.

Could California be next?

Assemblymember Juan Alanis, R-Modesto, has introduced a bill, AB 3080, that would enact a similar verification process here in the Golden State.

The bill is supported by the conservative California Family Council, which in a blog post Monday wrote that 11 other states — all with Republican-controlled state legislatures — have already enacted a similar law.

“Just like retail and restaurant establishments are required to make a reasonable effort to verify the age of customers buying alcohol to prevent the negative effects on minors, websites with obscene and indecent material harmful to minors should be required to conduct age verification as well,” CFC’s Greg Burt said in a statement about the bill.

The bill has yet to attract any co-authors, but is set to be heard next Tuesday by the Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Now that we have identified the ineffectiveness and limitations of our current approach, it is now necessary for the Legislature to take action and improve accountability of the dollars we are spending.”

- Assemblyman Josh Hoover, R-Folsom, in a statement following the release of an audit critical of how California is spending to address the homelessness crisis.

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