Ky Attorney General Cameron Urges Congress to Study AI, Harmful Effects on Kids

Protect children from the dangers of Artificial Intelligence

FRANKFORT, Ky. (September 6, 2023) – Attorney General Daniel Cameron today urged Congress to protect children from the dangers of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Bad actors often use AI to create child sexual abuse material (CSAM)—that is, doctored images of children in sexual positions.

In a letter to House and Senate leaders, a bipartisan coalition of 54 attorneys general asked Congress to investigate AI’s role in CSAM and child exploitation generally and to propose legislation to stop it.

“We live in a digital age, and for all technology’s benefits it also poses substantial risks,” said Attorney General Cameron. “As Kentucky’s chief law enforcement officer, I have a special responsibility to protect our children, and I joined this coalition to urge Congress to do its part, too.”

In their letter, the attorneys general point to “an underreported and understudied aspect of the AI problem. . . the exploitation of children[.]” “And because many of these AI tools are ‘open-source,’ the tools can be run in an unrestricted and unpoliced way.” This creates “a new frontier for abuse that makes . . . prosecution more difficult.”          

The coalition recommends that Congress form an expert commission to study AI’s effects on children and expand restrictions on CSAM to explicitly include AI-generated material.

This is Attorney General Cameron’s latest effort to protect children from the effects of misused technology. Last year, he pressed TikTok and Snapchat to implement stronger parental controls on their platforms.

Attorney General Cameron was joined by attorneys general from by Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming in sending the letter.

To read a copy of the letter, click here.