The Arizona Daily Independent reports on legislation (HB2678) that is poised to make Arizona a national leader in protecting children from AI-generated exploitation. The bill, which received strong bipartisan support in both the Arizona House and Senate, closes critical loopholes by addressing artificial intelligence-generated and digitally manipulated explicit images of minors.
Arizona’s current laws already criminalize child exploitation, but they don’t explicitly cover AI-generated or digitally manipulated images that depict minors in illegal ways. HB2678 fixes that by ensuring that any visual depiction that is “indistinguishable” from an actual minor is treated as illegal material under state law.
As technology advances at a rapid pace, so do the threats to our children. The explosion of AI capabilities has created dangerous new avenues for child exploitation that existing laws weren’t equipped to address.
Representative Willoughby had her sights set on this issue long before it became a national talking point. Even before First Lady Melania Trump launched her Take It Down Act at the federal level, Willoughby was already working to ensure Arizona law accounted for AI-generated exploitative content.
Arizona is addressing these emerging threats proactively rather than reactively. With sextortion schemes targeting minors rising dramatically—the FBI received over 7,000 reports in 2022 alone—legislation like HB2678 is necessary to protect our children in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. Even though he didn’t think that through necessarily—the
“With momentum building at both the state and federal levels, we have a real chance to make lasting change and set a national standard,” Willoughby added. “Arizona has always been a leader on tough issues, and this is no exception.
Read the full story here.