Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from 54 states and territories urging federal lawmakers to study and eventually propose legislation to protect children from being exploited through artificial intelligence (AI).
TN AG Skrmetti joined a bi-partisan 54-state and territory coalition in a letter urging Congress to study artificial intelligence (AI) and its harmful effects on children. Read more here: https://t.co/1mYRGMckfF pic.twitter.com/bdjKCXalRN
— TN Attorney General (@AGTennessee) September 5, 2023
The coalition of attorneys general argue that AI “can and is being used to exploit children through child sexual abuse material (CSAM).”
The letter to congressional leaders stated, “AI is also being used to generate child sexual abuse material (CSAM). For example, AI tools can rapidly and easily create ‘deepfakes’ by studying real photographs of abused children to generate new images showing those children in sexual positions. This involves overlaying the face of one person on the body of another. Deepfakes can also be generated by overlaying photographs of otherwise unvictimized children on the internet with photographs of abused children to create new CSAM involving the previously unharmed children.”
The coalition also noted that AI “has the potential to be used to identify someone’s location, mimic their voice, and generate deepfakes.”
To these points, the coalition urged Congress to form an “expert commission to study the means and methods of AI that can be used to exploit children specifically and to propose solutions to deter and address such exploitation.”
The commission, the coalition noted, should “operate on an ongoing basis due to the rapidly evolving nature of this technology to ensure an up-to-date understanding of the issue.”
Upon recommendations from the committee, Congress should then “act to deter and address child exploitation, such as by expanding existing restrictions on CSAM to explicitly cover AI-generated CSAM,” the attorneys general add.
The coalition’s letter concluded by urging lawmakers, “Now is the time to act,” acknowledging that the “proverbial walls of the city have already been breached.”
“We should do all we can to research and understand AI’s impact, deter exploitation, and protect our children from any harmful effects of this technology,” Skrmetti said in a separate statement. “We were not vigilant enough during the rise of social media and a generation of kids is paying the price. We cannot afford to make the same mistake again.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
