Protect Children in the Age of AI: Address the Legal Gap Around AI-Generated CSAM
The Issue
To the President of the United States, the Department of Justice, and Members of Congress:
I am a parent and concerned citizen asking our federal government to urgently address a legal issue involving AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and AI-generated sexually explicit depictions of children.
On August 25, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit decided United States v. Steven Anderegg.
The court affirmed dismissal of a federal possession charge as applied to the defendant’s private possession of obscene virtual CSAM in his home where the government did not establish that actual children were depicted.
This does NOT mean the court legalized all AI-generated CSAM.
But the reason the court gave should concern us.
The court concluded that it was bound by existing Supreme Court precedent, including Stanley v. Georgia (1969) and Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (2002).
The judges themselves recognized how much technology has changed.
The Seventh Circuit explained that today’s generative AI can create images depicting the abuse of virtual children that are “virtually indistinguishable” from images depicting the abuse of actual children. The court acknowledged that today’s image-generation technology was likely unimaginable when the Supreme Court decided Ashcroft nearly 25 years ago.
The court ultimately explained that, despite its concerns, it was not free to redraw lines established by Supreme Court precedent.
That is why we are asking our government to act.
We are not asking the President or Congress to ignore the Constitution, and Congress cannot simply overturn a Supreme Court constitutional precedent.
We are asking federal leaders to:
Urgently review federal AI-generated CSAM laws in light of United States v. Anderegg and today’s generative-AI capabilities; hold congressional hearings and build a modern factual record about AI-generated CSAM; determine whether federal laws can be strengthened or more narrowly tailored while remaining constitutional; protect real children whose photographs or existing abuse imagery are manipulated using AI; and pursue appropriate Supreme Court clarification of how existing First Amendment precedent applies to modern generative-AI CSAM when a suitable case presents the issue.
Technology has changed dramatically.
Our legal system needs to confront what that change means before this problem becomes even bigger.
We should not wait another decade while AI becomes increasingly capable of producing realistic depictions of children being sexually abused.
This is not about abandoning constitutional rights.
It is about determining what protections the Constitution allows in a technological world that the Supreme Court could not have fully anticipated decades ago—and using every constitutionally permissible tool to protect children.
We are asking for:
No unintended legal safe harbor for AI-generated child sexual abuse material.
No unintended legal safe harbor for AI-generated sexually explicit depictions of children.
Review the law. Address the constitutional questions. Protect children in the age of AI.
81
The Issue
To the President of the United States, the Department of Justice, and Members of Congress:
I am a parent and concerned citizen asking our federal government to urgently address a legal issue involving AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and AI-generated sexually explicit depictions of children.
On August 25, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit decided United States v. Steven Anderegg.
The court affirmed dismissal of a federal possession charge as applied to the defendant’s private possession of obscene virtual CSAM in his home where the government did not establish that actual children were depicted.
This does NOT mean the court legalized all AI-generated CSAM.
But the reason the court gave should concern us.
The court concluded that it was bound by existing Supreme Court precedent, including Stanley v. Georgia (1969) and Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (2002).
The judges themselves recognized how much technology has changed.
The Seventh Circuit explained that today’s generative AI can create images depicting the abuse of virtual children that are “virtually indistinguishable” from images depicting the abuse of actual children. The court acknowledged that today’s image-generation technology was likely unimaginable when the Supreme Court decided Ashcroft nearly 25 years ago.
The court ultimately explained that, despite its concerns, it was not free to redraw lines established by Supreme Court precedent.
That is why we are asking our government to act.
We are not asking the President or Congress to ignore the Constitution, and Congress cannot simply overturn a Supreme Court constitutional precedent.
We are asking federal leaders to:
Urgently review federal AI-generated CSAM laws in light of United States v. Anderegg and today’s generative-AI capabilities; hold congressional hearings and build a modern factual record about AI-generated CSAM; determine whether federal laws can be strengthened or more narrowly tailored while remaining constitutional; protect real children whose photographs or existing abuse imagery are manipulated using AI; and pursue appropriate Supreme Court clarification of how existing First Amendment precedent applies to modern generative-AI CSAM when a suitable case presents the issue.
Technology has changed dramatically.
Our legal system needs to confront what that change means before this problem becomes even bigger.
We should not wait another decade while AI becomes increasingly capable of producing realistic depictions of children being sexually abused.
This is not about abandoning constitutional rights.
It is about determining what protections the Constitution allows in a technological world that the Supreme Court could not have fully anticipated decades ago—and using every constitutionally permissible tool to protect children.
We are asking for:
No unintended legal safe harbor for AI-generated child sexual abuse material.
No unintended legal safe harbor for AI-generated sexually explicit depictions of children.
Review the law. Address the constitutional questions. Protect children in the age of AI.
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Petition created on August 29, 2026