CHICAGO – Attorney General Kwame Raoul today announced Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law his legislation to clarify that Illinois’ child pornography laws apply to images and videos created by artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The measure builds on the work being done by Attorney General Raoul’s office, in collaboration with state and federal law enforcement agencies, to crack down on child sexual abuse images throughout Illinois.
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“I initiated this legislation because AI-generated child sexual abuse images are an increasing concern that need to be addressed before technology outpaces our ability to distinguish between AI images and images of real children,” Raoul said. “Just like child sexual abuse images containing real children, AI-generated child pornography is used by predators to lure and groom minors and to normalize their own reprehensible behavior and child sexual abuse. Gov. Pritzker’s signature today will help us address AI-generated child sexual abuse images the same way existing law covers images of real children.”
Raoul’s law prohibits the use of AI technology to create child sexual abuse images that either involve real children or obscene imagery. The law also separately prohibits the nonconsensual dissemination of certain AI-generated sexual images.
Illinois Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz and Sen. Mary Edly-Allen sponsored House Bill 4623.
“The increasingly cheap and easy access to generative AI technology has facilitated a disturbing rise in explicit, artificially-created content depicting children,” said Gong-Gershowitz. “This legislation updates Illinois’ child pornography laws to protect against this new - but already ubiquitous - technology that allows offenders to create and distribute explicit content featuring children at a scale never before possible.”
“We must protect our children and implement strong regulations as new threats are constantly developing with unregulated AI programs,” said Edly-Allen. “I commend Attorney General Raoul and State Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz for their tireless efforts to ensure the safety and protection of current and future generations.”
Experts from the Attorney General’s office testified before legislative committees to explain technological advances that have enabled the creation of realistic, computer-generated images and videos of children, and to highlight the ways in which AI-generated child sexual abuse images are harmful. When AI technology uses images of real children to generate child sexual abuse images, the children who are depicted experience real reputational, emotional and privacy injuries. However, even when the technology does not use images of real children, the resulting child sexual abuse images nonetheless perpetuate abusive and predatory behavior.
Raoul’s office, with a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, runs the Illinois Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force that investigates child exploitation crimes and trains law enforcement agencies. The task force receives CyberTips, or online reports of child sexual abuse images, from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Over the last several years, CyberTipline reports have steadily increased. In 2023, reports to the ICAC increased by 46% over 2022.
Illinois’ ICAC Task Force is one of 61 ICAC task forces throughout the country and is comprised of a network of more than 185 local, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies. Since 2019, the Attorney General’s ICAC Task Force has received more than 46,150 CyberTips and has been involved in more than 755 arrests of sexual predators. Since 2006, the Attorney General’s ICAC Task Force has been involved in more than 2,145 arrests of sexual predators. The task force also has provided internet safety training and education to tens of thousands of parents, teachers, students and law enforcement professionals.
Attorney General Raoul is reminding the public that child sexual exploitation can be reported online at CyberTipline.com and child abuse at dcfsOnlineReporting.dcfs.illinois.gov. In addition, local child advocacy centers can be found at ChildrensAdvocacyCentersofIllinois.org.
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