Attorney General Raoul’s legislation on use of artificial intelligence child sexual abuse images is signed into law
Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced that Gov. JB Pritzker has 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 efforts of Attorney General Raoul’s office, in collaboration with state and federal law enforcement agencies, to combat child sexual abuse images throughout Illinois.
“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 involve either 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 about technological advances enabling realistic computer-generated images and videos of children, highlighting how harmful AI-generated child sexual abuse images can be. When AI technology uses real children's images to generate such content, it causes reputational, emotional, and privacy injuries for those depicted. Even without using real children's images, these abusive materials perpetuate predatory behavior.
Raoul’s office runs the Illinois Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force with a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, investigating child exploitation crimes and training law enforcement agencies. The task force receives CyberTips—online reports of child sexual abuse—from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Over recent years, CyberTipline reports have steadily increased; in 2023 alone, reports rose by 46% over 2022.
The Illinois ICAC Task Force is one of 61 nationwide task forces comprising more than 185 local, county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. Since 2019, it has received over 46,150 CyberTips resulting in more than 755 arrests of sexual predators; since its inception in 2006, it has been involved in over 2,145 arrests.
Attorney General Raoul reminds the public that online reports of child sexual exploitation can be made at CyberTipline.com while cases of suspected child abuse can be reported at dcfsOnlineReporting.dcfs.Illinois.gov.
Local advocacy centers can be found at ChildrensAdvocacyCentersofIllinois.org.