Virginia prosecutor asks Supreme Court to revisit ruling on AI-made child abuse images
A federal appeals court found that fully AI-generated child sexual abuse images may not meet the legal definition used to prosecute such material, and a local prosecutor wants the Supreme Court to weigh in.
What happened: Smyth County, Virginia, Commonwealth's Attorney Phillip Blevins is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a case after the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that certain images generated entirely by artificial intelligence may not meet the legal definition of child sexual abuse material. The appeals court based its reasoning on a 2002 Supreme Court decision. Blevins called the ruling a threat to children's safety and says only a case reaching the Supreme Court can force a fresh look at it.
Why it matters: The ruling applies narrowly: it covers only images built entirely by AI with no real child involved. Photos or videos of actual children altered using AI remain illegal everywhere, legal experts say. But if the Seventh Circuit's reasoning spreads to other courts, wholly fabricated abusive images could be treated as outside the law's reach in those jurisdictions, potentially limiting how prosecutors charge people who create, possess, or share this content online.
How it works, plainly: In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that images not depicting real children did not meet the legal definition used to ban child sexual abuse material nationally. Will Thompson, dean of students at Appalachian School of Law, said the Seventh Circuit applied that same logic to a modern case involving AI: because the images were generated rather than photographed, the court found existing law doesn't clearly cover them. Altering real children's photos with AI tools is treated as a separate, still-illegal act.
The rollout: Blevins says a case must climb all the way to the Supreme Court before justices can revisit the 2002 standard with today's AI tools in mind. There's no indication yet of when or whether that will happen, and for now the Seventh Circuit's ruling stands within its own jurisdiction. In the meantime, Blevins says he's working with the Smyth County Sheriff's Office to pursue online predators using both AI-generated and real child sexual abuse material.