Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Technology Ai topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee adopts amendment and passes bill outlawing AI‑generated child sexual imagery and allowing red‑team testing
Summary
House Bill 18‑77, amended in committee, would criminalize AI‑generated sexual images of minors and add a limited testing safe harbor (red‑team testing) for companies developing image‑generation tools. The attorney general's office supported the bill; no public opposition was recorded after amendment adoption.
House Bill 18‑77 passed the committee after sponsors and the attorney general's office described the measure and the committee adopted an amendment that provides an exemption for so‑called red‑team testing by companies developing AI image tools.
Representative Steven Meeks introduced the bill as a companion to other AI safety measures and said the bill would make it illegal to create AI‑generated sexual imagery of minors that is indistinguishable from real children. Meeks said he worked with the attorney general's office and that a version of the law exists in many other states; passing the bill would bring Arkansas in line with those states.
Meeks presented an amendment allowing companies to conduct red‑team or vulnerability testing designed to prevent their models from producing prohibited material. The committee adopted the amendment by voice vote. No opposition speakers were recorded after the amendment; Meeks closed and moved the bill as amended and the committee approved it by voice vote.
Supporters argued the measure protects children and that the red‑team exemption is narrowly tailored to allow internal testing without creating a public‑safety loophole; no specific enforcement guidance or budgetary impact was discussed in the committee hearing transcript.
