After several reports of artificial intelligence-generated child pornography surfaced in California, Ventura County Dist. Erik Nasarenko advocated for a change to state law to protect children who are increasingly vulnerable to this misuse of technology. Last December, Nasarenko received his first tip regarding a person who had artificially created photos depicting an underaged girl performing sex acts with an adult man. "When it came to my attention, I said let's file [charges]," Nasarenko told The Times. But, because of current loopholes in California law, he learned that he couldn't press charges in cases where the photos of children are AI-generated.

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. The Idaho legislature passed a bill this week to carry out the death penalty for sex crimes against children younger than 12. Another bill permitting prosecutors to bring sexual exploitation charges against producers of child pornography using artificial intelligence (AI) also passed the assembly in the same session. HB 515 would amend Idaho's current statute that carries a life sentence for "lewd conduct with a minor" below the age of 16. If the child is under 12, if the act is "especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, manifesting exceptional depravity," then prosecutors would seek the death penalty.

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. The top prosecutors in all 50 states are urging Congress to study how artificial intelligence can be used to exploit children through pornography, and come up with legislation to further guard against it. In a letter sent Tuesday to Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate, the attorneys general from across the country call on federal lawmakers to "establish an expert commission to study the means and methods of AI that can be used to exploit children specifically" and expand existing restrictions on child sexual abuse materials specifically to cover AI-generated images. "We are engaged in a race against time to protect the children of our country from the dangers of AI," the prosecutors wrote in the letter, shared ahead of time with The Associated Press.