Bill criminalising child sexual abuse AI tools to be introduced to parliament

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A bill to criminalise AI tools designed solely or primarily to create child sexual abuse material will be introduced to parliament this morning. Independent MP Kate Chaney says it's important to take urgent action, given how fast the technology is moving.

Transcript

00:00We absolutely do need to take a holistic approach to regulating AI, but we also need to be able

00:08to nimbly respond to risks as they emerge.

00:13And this is a clear gap in our criminal code that I think we need to be able to respond

00:18quickly on so we can make sure we're keeping kids safe.

00:22Currently possession of these images is illegal, but it's not illegal to possess these particular

00:28types of AI tools that are designed for the sole purpose of creating child sexual abuse

00:33material.

00:34So it means that perpetrators can generate the material using images of real children,

00:42delete the images and then recreate them whenever they want and avoid detection.

00:47It makes it harder for law enforcement to identify which are real victims and it normalises this

00:52behaviour.

00:53So this bill is focused on making it illegal to download these tools that are designed

00:59to create this material.

01:00I've met with the Attorney General's office and there's some recognition that work needs

01:05to be done.

01:06The challenge that we have is that we're creating a lot of reports and consultations and the

01:11technology is moving so fast.

01:14So I think there's a need for urgent action on this.

01:18We need to be able to plug the gaps as we go while addressing the broad issues about how

01:23we're going to encourage take up of AI for its productivity benefits, but creating appropriate

01:29guardrails so that people can have faith in it.

01:31And then we need to follow up.

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