Governor Josh Green, M.D.

 

 

DEPARTMENT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

KA ʻOIHANA O KA LOIO KUHINA 

 

JOSH GREEN, M.D. 
GOVERNOR 

 

ANNE LOPEZ 

ATTORNEY GENERAL 

News Release 2023-43

 

ATTORNEY GENERAL LOPEZ URGES CONGRESS TO STUDY AI AND ITS HARMFUL EFFECTS ON CHILDREN

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 5, 2023

HONOLULU – As a part of a bipartisan coalition, Attorney General Anne Lopez joined a letter urging Congress to study how artificial intelligence (AI) can and is being used to exploit children through child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and to propose legislation to protect children from those abuses.

“The rise of artificial intelligence and ‘deep fake’ poses a grave threat to the safety and well-being of our children,” said Attorney General Lopez. “Attorneys General from around the nation are united in our call to Congress to act to give law enforcement the tools it needs to combat child predators in the age of AI.”

“AI technology represents dangers that, if not checked, can be used to produce images and videos of real, digitally altered, or AI-generated children who do not exist to produce CSAM,” says Hawaiʻi Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Commander Ed Arias. “AI will cause an explosion in the production of AI-generated CSAM that will burden the resources of law enforcement. AI-generated CSAM may be indistinguishable from the real thing.”

The letter states, “AI is also being used to generate child sexual abuse material. For example, 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. This involves overlaying the face of one person on the body of another. Deepfakes can also be generated by overlaying photographs of otherwise unvictimized children on the internet with photographs of abused children to create new CSAM involving the previously unharmed children.” 

Attorney General Lopez and the rest of the coalition ask 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 CSAM to explicitly cover AI-generated CSAM.” 

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.” 

Besides Hawaiʻi, the South Carolina led letter is co-sponsored in a bipartisan effort by Mississippi, North Carolina, and Oregon. They are also joined by Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, 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.

You can read the full letter here.

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Media Contact:

Dave Day

Special Assistant to the Attorney General

(808) 586-1284                                                  

Email: [email protected]        

Web: http://ag.hawaii.gov