Democrats on Maine’s Legislative Council voted against a proposed bill that would have outlawed AI-generated child pornography on Thursday as the council chose which proposed legislation would be considered during the upcoming legislative session.
“It’s pretty insane to me that they’d prioritize naming bridges and roads over protecting kids from having their lives ripped apart by pedophiles with AI… but that seems to be the common theme among the entire Democratic Party right now,” said Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart (R-Aroostook) in a statement provided to The Maine Wire.
The legislative council voted 5-5 against the proposed “An Act to Make Artificial Intelligence-Generated Child Pornography Illegal” submitted by Rep. Amy Roeder (D-Bangor).
The council’s four Republicans and Rep. Lori Gramlich (D-Old Orchard Beach) voted to move the proposal forward for consideration in the 132nd Legislature’s 2nd session, while the remaining Democrats, including House Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford), opposed it.
Despite the tie, the proposal failed.
The Maine Wire reached out to Rep. Roeder, asking for comments on members of her own party killing the proposal.
“The Judiciary Committee is way ahead of me on this legislation, so I am not surprised that the legislative council did not support my bill. At best, it would have been duplicative, at worst, it would have totally derailed the careful, informed, bipartisan work the Judiciary Committee has already been doing around this issue. I was assured that we would be seeing legislation about this from the committee and I am looking forward to supporting their work,” said Roeder in a statement to The Maine Wire.
None of the other proposals considered in the Legislative Council on Thursday appeared to directly address AI-generated child sexual abuse material.
The Maine Wire also reached out to all the Democrats on the Legislative Council who voted against Roeder’s proposal, as well as to Rep. Gramlich – the Democrat who support it, but they did not immediately respond.
House Minority Leader Billy-Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) weighed in on the Democrats’ decision to reject Roeder’s proposal.
“The one that really blew my mind was a bill sponsored by a Democrat that would prohibit child pornography created by AI. And of course, even though a Democrat sponsored that bill, I voted yes for it, because I think child pornography is absolutely disgusting no matter how it’s created,” said Rep. Faulkingham.
“Unfortunately, that bill failed to get entered into the second session because the majority of Democrats voted against letting that bill in, even though it was sponsored by a Democrat. I don’t understand the reasoning why you would not want to go against child pornography, but that actually happened today, so it doesn’t really leave me with a lot of optimism for the second session,” he added.
Rep. Katrina Smith (R-Palermo), who also sits on the Legislative Council, weighed in with her own statement.
“The bill basically updates child pornography laws in Maine to include banning AI generated images. It was a Democrat-sponsored bill, so it’s not like the Republicans are trying to hide something in it and that’s what they were opposing. I couldn’t believe that they weren’t even willing to let it through to committee to explore the specific details,” she said.
The failed proposal comes as OpenAI will begin allowing adult users to generate sexually explicit material using its artificial intelligence products.
