If you read the article, this is a very specific legal question. And honestly, it's too gross to contemplate, and having a strong opinion about this on the internet is rightly suspicious.

The good news is the criminal in this case didn't just posess CSAM, and no matter how this shakes out, they going to jail.

Wait. Doesn't the PROTECT Act deal with this?

Prohibits computer-generated child pornography when "(B) such visual depiction is a computer image or computer-generated image that is, or appears virtually indistinguishable from that of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct"; (as amended by 1466A for Section 2256(8)(B) of title 18, United States Code).

Wouldn't this fall under that? I'm confused.

wtf.

It's nearly an impossible question to answer in criminal scenario. An actual photo of an exposed minor is clearly harm to that individual. Putting their face on a fake but believable body is nearly as bad. Then you get to the sort of 5-10% gap where it could be them or inspired by them, but few would believe it's an actual photograph. It all goes downhill from there. Cartoonify someone, give them bigger boobs and put them in a bikini on Mars and we start to wonder how this got to trial. It would be a huge gift to lawyers but I think most of this needs to play out in civil courts.

FINALLY my Vote for Donald Trump and Child Sex Generator Elon Musk is PAYING OFF!

-LITERALLY Every single Republican voter!

Manga though? Straight to jail.

So here’s going to be an unpopular opinion. First let me preface this with I think hurting children is one of the worst things you can do. But is drawing a naked child illegal? Is a video game with a naked child 3d model illegal? Where is the line? Is it weird? Hell fucking yes. Is it wrong? I also believe yes. But it’s not an actual child. The real question should be, how did the AI know how to create those images? Because it was trained on actual child porn. And how this AI was trained should really be the crime. Because it ingested shit-tons of actual CSAM.

This nazi regime installed set of scat puppets would

So you can generate it but not be in possession of it?

Someone needs to search that Judge's hard drive...

I don't understand this at all. I thought it was illegal to have possession of child pornography. In fact isn't that what CBP, said they were looking for on the guy's phone when they put in the code and it wiped itself? So it's legal to generate it, but not possess it? WTF? Did I hear wrong?

It's nice to see that the old USA is still there. But the social media reactions make me worry all the more for the future.

Madness

Controversial opinion: If there is no real child whose likeness is used to produce the image, then there is no real victim. The art that is created is of the same quality as a drawing from imagination.

The other problem with illegalizing content on the basis of whether it's CSAM is the eternal question of whether an unreal likeness can be said to even have an age. How would you be able to prove with certainty that an AI-generated likeness was below the age of consent? You would think it would be obvious, but there is a huge gray area here. If the protection weren't fairly strong, I 100% guarantee that conservative Bible-thumpers would take advantage of the opportunity to ban all ai pornographic content, and then move on to real porn after that.

In addition, Banning AI material we might be able to interpret as CSAM does nothing to protect real children. There is no empirical proof that any kind of porn has a real, independent effect on people's sexual behavior.

Edit with addendum: In addition, civil rights are a matter of principle. It doesn't matter whether the presence of AI generated material makes the job of policing more difficult. The Bill of Rights was created to try to make sure that we don't become slaves. Just because something is highly offensive to my own tastes doesn't mean that the civil rights of the person who offends me disappear.

Then so Is AI porn of that judge.