Senate Judiciary Committee advances bill to criminalize nonconsensual AI-generated obscene images with child‑protection amendment

Senator Hatchett presented a committee substitute for Senate Bill 398 on the Senate Judiciary Committee floor, saying the measure ‘‘makes it a crime to intentionally cause a generative AI system to generate an obscene image of a real person without that person's consent.” The committee adopted two amendments and voted unanimously to send the substitute to the Rules Committee.

The substitute narrows earlier language so the statute focuses on the creation of nonconsensual obscene images by generative AI — a gap Senator Hatchett said current Georgia law does not clearly cover. ‘‘Georgia law already criminalizes voyeurism, obscenity in the distribution of obscene material,’’ Hatchett said, ‘‘but those codes really were written at a time when the only concern was real images or real videos. AI has changed the ability to manufacture an image of a real person doing something obscene even though no such photo was ever taken.”

Why it matters: committee members said the bill seeks to protect victims whose likenesses can now be synthetically generated and circulated without consent. Hatchett and counsel added a limited exemption allowing law enforcement and prosecutors to use AI‑generated imagery for legitimate investigative, demonstrative, or courtroom purposes so that investigative tools are not unintentionally criminalized.

During debate, members probed several points: how the statute treats images of minors and whether the term ‘‘real person’’ would exclude fully fictional AI‑only characters; whether the statute would reach operators who acquire platforms through corporate mergers; and how criminal liability differs from civil or platform regulation. Legislative counsel noted the bill’s definition of ‘‘minor’’ and that Georgia’s statutory language treats an ‘‘individual’’ as a real person, a clarification the author said should address the phrasing concerns.

The committee also adopted an amendment offered by Senator Harrell that targets computer programs or applications designed or marketed primarily to children: Harrell described constituent testimony that children encountered explicit material when interacting with chatbots at school and said the amendment criminalizes distribution of computer‑generated obscene material to a child when a responsible actor ‘‘knew or reasonably should have known’’ the outcome. Harrell recounted a parent’s account of a 9‑year‑old encountering explicit chatbot content during school hours.

A public commenter, Brian Hines of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, asked the committee to limit certain probation‑related restrictions to felony convictions; he proposed inserting the words ‘‘for felony violation of this code section’’ to the probation provision. Legislative counsel and the bill’s author agreed the change was a simple fix and the committee adopted that clarification as part of the amendment package.

The bill also clarifies platform liability: Hatchett said the criminal offense attaches to a person who intentionally causes the AI system to create the image, not to a platform that merely hosts or transmits content, although an operator intentionally using a platform to produce nonconsensual images could be charged.

The committee passed the committee substitute as amended by unanimous voice/hand vote and voted to send SB 398 to the Rules Committee. The committee did not record a roll‑call tally in the transcript; the chair stated the motion was unanimous.