COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCBD) -- As the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence prompts widespread alarm about how the technology is being used to exploit children, officials are racing to implement protections. South Carolina already outlaws the possession, distribution, or production of child sexua l abuse material (CSAM), but there is no language explicitly addressing AI-generated content. State senators unanimously advanced a bill in February designed to close that loophole by adding a prohibition against morphed images and videos to the child exploitation statute. Deepfakes -- videos and images digitally created or altered with artificial intelligence or machine learning — are being used to create CSAM of children who are already being abused or alter the likeness of a real child from a photograph on social media to depict abuse, according to experts.  “We’re seeing this all over the country,” said Attorney General Alan Wilson, who is widely expected to run for governor in 2026. “What we’re asking the legislature to do is to close those loopholes to make it easier to go after people who are trying to feed the child sexual abuse market. The child porn market is real on the internet, and we want to attack that.”   The bill would fold violations into the existing felony penalty structure, with the exception of offenses committed by minors. In those cases, a first violation would be classified by a misdemeanor and heard by a family court judge.  It now heads to the House, where a similar measure faced pushback from lawmakers over its definition of “identifiable minor.” It is defined as a person who “was a minor at the time the image was created, adapted, or modified” and is “recognizable as an actual person by the person’s face, likeness, or other distinguishing characteristic.” Proof of the minor’s actual identity is not required.  House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford (D-Richland) argued that the description is too vague and leaves room for potential prosecutorial overreach.   “You can’t tell who is a minor by looking at their face,” Rutherford said during an April 1 floor debate, questioning who would be responsible for making such a determination. “At what point does the government not demand specificity before we take someone’s freedom away?” Rep. Travis Moore (R-Spartanburg) responded that the state has experienced law enforcement officers who are trained to make that judgment, but it would ultimately be up to a jury.   “This is a tool that law enforcement needs to be able to adequately protect our children because the advances in technology -- our laws are not keeping up with them,” he added. Wilson, who spent time prosecuting child abuse as an assistant solicitor and assistant attorney general prior to his election in 2010, doesn’t buy Rutherford’s argument, either.   “This exists now: You have 12-year-olds that look 18, and you have 18-year-olds that look like they’re 12,” he said. “That is why prosecutors and investigators on a case-by-case basis have to look at the specific content and make decisions that they’re going to have to defend when they go to court after a case is indicted.” SC lawmakers discuss bill to strengthen illegal burn consequences He said the state must “draw a line in the sand” when it comes to people attempting to exploit children and is endorsing several other bills that target loopholes in the judicial system. That includes S. 74, a bill introduced by Sen. Greg Hembree (R-Horry) that broadens the attorney general’s subpoena powers. Currently, cyber tips submitted to the state’s Internet Crimes Against Children task force regarding possible child pornography include an IP address but not the identity of the person behind it. To uncover their identity – and eventually serve a warrant for the alleged material -- law enforcement must first ask the U.S. Attorney’s Office for an administrative subpoena to send to the internet service provider.   Hembree’s bill, Wilson said, would remove that additional step, potentially allowing for faster prosecution. “This bill, if it’s passed, would cut out the need to go to the U.S Attorney’s Office and allow us to do it all in-house at the state level,” he said. When you look at the volume of cases we have, every time we have to send an administrative request up to the US Attorney's Office, and we have to do that over and over and over again, it makes it difficult to move these cases.” That bill also now resides in the House. Wilson’s push for lawmakers to rein in artificial intelligence began several years ago in 2023 when he led a letter on behalf of attorneys general in all 50 states urging federal lawmakers to study how AI can be used to exploit children and find ways to guard against it. “We are engaged in a race against time to protect the children of our country from the dangersof AI,” the letter stated. “Indeed, the proverbial walls of the city have already been breached. Now is the time to act.” 38 states have enacted laws that criminalize AI-generated or digitally-altered child sexual abuse material, according to child advocacy group Enough Abuse. ...read more read less