Child Predators Are Using AI And Getting Away With It?!

America is entering a dangerous new era in which technology can create images that never existed in the real world but are nearly impossible to distinguish from reality. Artificial intelligence has brought enormous opportunities, but it has also created frightening new tools for predators.

A federal appeals court ruled that, in a narrow circumstance, the First Amendment protects the private possession of AI-generated child sexual abuse material depicting entirely fictional children.

The case involved Wisconsin resident Steven Anderegg, who was accused of using the generative-AI program Stable Diffusion to create thousands of realistic images depicting young children being sexually abused. According to the Department of Justice, some of the images were also allegedly sent to a 15-year-old boy.

The Seventh Circuit ultimately upheld dismissal of the federal possession charge, not because the court believed this material was acceptable, but because the judges concluded that existing Supreme Court precedent required that result when the images did not involve actual children and were possessed privately in the home.

Judge John Z. Lee acknowledged that today's AI systems can produce images of "virtual children" that are virtually indistinguishable from images depicting actual child abuse. The court noted that the Supreme Court's controlling precedent on virtual child pornography dates back more than two decades, to a technological era in which today's generative AI would have been difficult to imagine.

Texas has already recognized this threat.

In 2025, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 1621, specifically updating Texas' child pornography laws to address AI-generated material. The legislation created definitions covering both depictions of actual children and computer-generated children and expressly addressed AI-generated material that is virtually indistinguishable from an actual child. The law took effect September 1, 2025.

Texas law now specifically provides that prohibited visual material can include a depiction of a child created using AI or other computer software that, to a reasonable person, is "virtually indistinguishable" from an actual child younger than 18.

The Seventh Circuit's decision does not invalidate Texas law. Texas is located in the Fifth Circuit, not the Seventh Circuit, and the decision is an as-applied ruling involving the specific federal statute and circumstances before that court. The Seventh Circuit itself emphasized that it was following binding Supreme Court precedent rather than creating a new constitutional right for AI-generated child sexual abuse material.

Texas has actually moved aggressively to address AI-generated sexual material involving

children.

The state's Artificial Intelligence Protection Act, which took effect January 1, 2026, prohibits developing or distributing an AI system with the sole intent of producing, assisting in producing, or distributing material prohibited under Texas' child-pornography statute. It also addresses AI systems designed to generate illegal deepfakes and AI systems that simulate sexual conduct while impersonating or imitating a child.

The law gives the Texas Attorney General exclusive authority to enforce the chapter, including investigative authority when complaints are filed.

Texas should not wait for a predator to challenge the law before determining whether additional legislative protections are necessary. The Legislature should be examining the Seventh Circuit's decision now and determining whether Texas statutes need to be strengthened, clarified, or defended against potential constitutional challenges.

We believe that protecting children must remain the government's most fundamental responsibility. The First Amendment was never intended to create a technological escape hatch for predators who use artificial intelligence to simulate the sexual abuse of children.

Texas lawmakers should closely examine the implications of this ruling, defend Texas' existing protections, and be prepared to close any loopholes that predators may attempt to exploit.