Kansas committee hears bill to expand child-exploitation and privacy statutes to cover AI-generated images

The Kansas Senate Committee on the Judiciary on Monday heard testimony on House Bill 2183, a proposal to update multiple criminal statutes so images altered, generated or morphed by artificial intelligence that appear to depict people — including children — can be treated as criminal visual depictions.

Proponents told the committee the change is meant to close a gap in existing law that prosecutors and local investigators say allows AI-manipulated imagery to evade current child-exploitation and privacy statutes. "AI is getting so realistic now that you can't tell the difference if it's a real child or not," Rep. Brad Barrett said, explaining how a local case in his district prompted the bill. "It appears to depict a child under 18 years of age shown or heard engaging in explicit conduct."

The bill would amend KSA 21-55-10 (sexual exploitation of a child), KSA 21-56-11 (unlawful transmission of a visual depiction of a child) and…