Teens call for ban on AI-generated child pornography

VENTURA, Calif. — Kaylin Hayman is used to being in the spotlight.

The 16-year-old from Ventura County is best known for her starring role as Blair on the Disney Channel television series “Just Roll With It.” She’s also appeared in commercials, performed on stage, interacted with fans and posted photos on social media, which is part of the job.

“Social media is essential for performing, for promoting your show or whatever you do,” she said.

But what Hayman didn't expect was that someone would take a photo from his Instagram account and use artificial intelligence to transform his face into images of child sexual abuse.

She and her family learned about it after a call from the FBI.

“When I hung up, I started crying,” she said. “I was like, this is disgusting, but I also knew I had to get up and I had to do something about it.”

The man who created the images was indicted in federal court last November. However, there is no way to prosecute the case criminally under California law, according to Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko.

“In late 2023, our High Tech Task Force, a unit that specializes in cybercrime and child exploitation, began to bring to my attention cases of AI-generated child pornography,” he said. “They were malicious, harmful, and I requested prosecution. They informed me that under current California law, they could not be prosecuted.”

He is fighting to close this legal loophole by co-sponsoring California bill AB 1831, which would ban the creation, distribution and possession of AI-generated child pornography.

In 2023, the CyberTipline, operated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, received 4,700 reports of child sexual abuse material involving generative AI.

As technology improves, Nasarenko says he already expects to see an increase in this type of explicit content.

“AI-generated insights have tremendous benefits and powers, but they also have a dark side, a malicious side,” Nasarenko said. “And we need the law to catch up and address this problem.” »

Hayman loudly supported the bill, speaking at committee hearings in the California Legislature.

“I was put in this position for a reason: I'm able to talk about it and do things like that and have those difficult conversations that other people are afraid to have,” she said. declared.

The Senate Appropriations Committee is currently considering the bill.