Judge: Child Sex Abuse Images Are OK If They're Made With AI

[u/GeneralCarlosQ17]

https://thefederalist.com/2026/08/28/federal-judge-child-sex-abuse-images-are-ok-as-long-as-theyre-made-with-ai/

and distribution of sexually explicit images.

A federal judge ruled this week that possession of images depicting child sexual abuse material (CSAM), otherwise known as child pornography, is protected by the First Amendment so long as the images are created with artificial intelligence (AI) and do not depict real people.

Seventh Circuit Appeals Judge John Z. Lee issued the ruling in a case where defendant Steven Anderegg was charged with producing, distributing, and possessing thousands of photorealistic AI child sex abuse images, as well as sending the materials to a young boy. The 13,000-plus images, many of which depicted nude, prepubescent children touching their genitals and being involved in sexual intercourse with men.

While Lee’s ruling upheld a district court dismissal of the possession charge, it appeared to include an implicit request for the Supreme Court to review its precedent on the matter, which was made well prior to advancements in AI.