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Judge John Z. Lee rules that the First Amendment protects the private possession of AI-generated child pornography

Judge John Z. Lee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that the First Amendment protects the right of Americans to possess AI-generated child pornography within their homes. The ruling, which applies to Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, states that the Justice Department cannot use possession statutes against obscene images that do not depict a real child. The case centered on Steven Anderegg, who was charged with producing and possessing thousands of images created using generative artificial intelligence software. While the images were hyper-realistic, they did not involve actual children. The court cited previous Supreme Court decisions to justify the ruling, noting that individuals have a First Amendment right to possess obscenity in the privacy of their home. Judge John Z. Lee noted that the technology is evolving rapidly and requested additional guidance from the Supreme Court regarding the intersection of the First Amendment and virtual child sexual abuse material. The ruling does not protect the creation or distribution of these images, nor does it deny that the images are obscene.

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