Overview
- A three‑judge 7th Circuit panel affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of the possession count against Wisconsin defendant Steven Anderegg, holding that the First Amendment protects private, in‑home possession of AI‑generated images that do not depict real children.
- The appeals court left Anderegg’s other charges — producing, distributing, and transferring the images to a minor — in place and subject to further prosecution.
- The ruling rests on long‑standing Supreme Court cases Stanley v. Georgia (1969) and Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (2002), which bar criminalizing privately held obscene material and protect virtual depictions made without real victims.
- Two judges wrote separately to stress that modern generative models can make images nearly indistinguishable from real abuse and cited research finding child sexual‑abuse material inside major AI training datasets, creating a possible link to real‑world exploitation.
- The opinion effectively invites higher review by the Supreme Court or new legislation, and it puts pressure on the Justice Department, Congress, and tech companies to clarify enforcement rules, improve dataset curation, and strengthen detection tools.