Attorney General Raoul Urges Congress To Study And Respond To Harmful Effects Of AI On Children

Sep 6, 2023 11:06 AM

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CHICAGO - Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a bipartisan coalition of 54 attorneys general, issued a letter on Tuesday urging Congress to study how artificial intelligence (AI) can and is being used to exploit children through child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

In their comment letter, Raoul and the attorneys general highlight the dangers of AI as it relates to CSAM in three main categories: a child’s likeness who has not been physically abused being digitally altered in a depiction of abuse; a child who has been physically abused being digitally recreated in other depictions of abuse; and a child who does not exist being digitally created in a depiction of abuse that feeds the market for CSAM.

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“AI technology has the potential to transform nearly every segment of our economy and the way we live,” Raoul said. “It also presents new threats, including to our children’s safety. Congress must act now to ensure the dangers of AI are fully understood and establish safeguards against child exploitation and abuse.”

Raoul and the coalition urge Congress to form a commission to study specifically how AI can and is being used to exploit children and to act to deter and address child exploitation. In addition, the coalition is urging the expansion of existing restrictions on CSAM to explicitly cover AI-generated CSAM to ensure prosecutors have the necessary tools to protect children.

Joining Raoul in filing the comment letter are the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

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