Attorney General Miyares Urges Congress to Study the Risk of Artificial Intelligence and Child Exploitation

RICHMOND, Va. – Attorney General Jason Miyares today joined a bipartisan 54-state and territory coalition urging Congress to study how artificial intelligence (AI) can be and is used to exploit children through child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) and to draft legislation safeguarding children from such abuses. 

“AI use in the production of child sexual abuse materials is becoming increasingly prevalent. We are in a race against the clock to establish strong legal boundaries and protections that encompass artificial intelligence technologies and, more importantly, protect the safety and innocence of our children," said Attorney General Miyares. 

The dangers of AI as it relates to CSAM is in three main categories: a real child’s likeness who has not been physically abused being digitally altered in a depiction of abuse, a real child who has been physically abused being digitally recreated in other depictions of abuse, and a child who does not even exist being digitally created in a depiction of abuse that feeds the market for CSAM. 

Attorney General Miyares and the coalition are asking Congress to form a commission to study how AI can be used to exploit children and to “act to deter and address child exploitation, such as by expanding existing restrictions on CSAM to explicitly cover AI-generated CSAM.”  

In June, Attorney General Miyares led a 23-state bipartisan coalition of attorneys general in urging the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to advance artificial intelligence governance policies that prioritize robust transparency, reliable testing and assessment requirements, and allow for government oversight and enforcement for high-risk uses.  

The South Carolina led letter is co-sponsored in a bipartisan effort by Mississippi, North Carolina, and Oregon. Attorney General Miyares was also joined by: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia. Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virgin Islands, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. 

You can read the full letter here. 

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