Protecting Our Children in an AI World Act of 2025
The Protecting Our Children in an AI World Act of 2025 aims to strengthen federal law against AI-produced child pornography. The bill would remove existing affirmative defenses available in prosecutions under 18 U.S.C. 2252A and expand the definition of what counts as sexually explicit conduct under 18 U.S.C. 2256. Specifically, it eliminates the affirmative defenses tied to 2252A and adds a new category to the list of sexually explicit conduct: actual or simulated obscene exhibition of the clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or female nipple. A severability clause is included so that if any part is struck down, the rest would remain in effect. In short, the bill is designed to make AI-generated or simulated portrayals of minors more clearly illegal and easier to prosecute by broadening what constitutes sexually explicit material and removing certain defenses for defendants.
Key Points
- 1Elimination of affirmative defenses: The bill removes the existing affirmative defenses under 18 U.S.C. 2252A(c), removing those defense options from defendants in child pornography prosecutions.
- 2Expansion of sexually explicit conduct: The bill broadens 18 U.S.C. 2256(2)(B) by adding a new category (iv) for “actual or simulated obscene exhibition of the clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or female nipple,” thereby broadening what can be charged as sexually explicit conduct.
- 3Focus on AI-produced material: The act’s title and intent emphasize AI-generated or AI-produced content, aiming to prohibit child pornography produced using artificial intelligence, and to close loopholes that could be exploited with AI imagery.
- 4Severability: A standard severability clause ensures that if any provision is unconstitutional, the remaining provisions can still be enforced.
- 5Scope of impact: While the changes are framed around AI-produced content, the specific amendments apply to the criminal definitions and defenses in federal law, affecting producers, distributors, and possessors of material that falls under these revised definitions.