Governor signs bill to protect Kentucky children from sexual abuse
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday signed House Bill 207, which would criminalize owning or selling child sex dolls and make it illegal to use artificial intelligence to generate child sexual abuse materials.
The materials covered under the bill include creating deep fake images that use real children’s likeness, according to a release by Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Stephanie Dietz, R-Edgewood.
Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky executive director, Jill Seyfred, says, “Our partnership with the Kentucky State Police and the Attorney General’s Office in working with Rep. Dietz to get this bill across the finish line will prove to save countless children from online victimization. We know lives will be saved because of the passage of this Bill.”
The release further states that making the possession of child sex dolls illegal in the Commonwealth would allow for law enforcement to use them as a probable cause to search for other evidence of child sexual abuse.
When testifying before the House Committee in January, Lieutenant Mike Bowling, commander of the Kentucky State Police Electronic Crime Branch, stated offenders are using text prompts to create child sexual abuse materials with artificial intelligence programs.
“Known victims are being revictimized by taking existing images and creating a new series of images,” Bowling stated. “There is a psychological impact of having their images passed around.”
