Press Release  Attorney General Campbell Urges Congress To Study AI And Its Harmful Effects On Children

BOSTON — As part of a bipartisan coalition of 54 attorneys general, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today sent a letter to Congress calling for a study of how artificial intelligence (AI) can and is being used to exploit and endanger children through the generation of child sexual abuse material. The coalition is also urging Congress to propose legislation that would protect children from those abuses.  

“Rapid changes in the field of AI may yield incredible benefits, but also pose societal risks, particularly for our children,” said AG Campbell. “I’m proud to join this bipartisan coalition calling on Congress to protect the young people who are most susceptible to harm and exploitation through AI-generated content. My office will continue to protect and advocate for the well-being of children across the Commonwealth and country.” 

As outlined in the letter, AI is already being used by bad actors to easily create child sexual abuse material in ways not previously possible and that may make prosecution more difficult. For example, bad actors can use AI to digitally alter the likeness of a real child (who has not been sexually or physically abused) to make it seem like they are being abused. Likewise, it can be used to combine photographs of both abused and non-abused children to animate new and realistic sexualized images of children who do not exist. “AI tools can rapidly and easily create ‘deepfakes’ by studying real photographs of abused children to generate new images showing those children in sexual positions,” the attorneys general write. “This involves overlaying the face of one person on the body of another.” Such practices endanger children and their families, normalizes child abuse, and feeds the market for child sexual abuse material. 

Attorney General Campbell and the coalition urge Congress to form a commission to study specifically how AI can be used to exploit children and to “act to deter and address child exploitation, such as by expanding existing restrictions on child sexual abuse material to explicitly cover AI-generated child sexual abuse material.” The letter continues, “We are engaged in a race against time to protect the children of our country from the dangers of AI. Indeed, the proverbial walls of the city have already been breached. Now is the time to act.”  

The safety and well-being of youth is a priority for AG Campbell, who has continued to tackle issues related to youth mental health, child labor, social media harms, hate in school sports, education inequities, and youth vaping. AG Campbell’s office includes a Children’s Justice Unit that has taken on litigation and policy work in these areas to advance justice and equity for Massachusetts’ young people. 

Today’s letter is led by the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office and co-sponsored in a bipartisan effort by the attorneys general of Mississippi, North Carolina, and Oregon. They are 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, Massachusetts, Maryland, 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, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.  

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