The problem with calling AI porn 'harmless'
“The idea that AI-generated pornography is a “victimless crime” — even if we concede it may be immoral — is a proposition that should unsettle anyone paying attention. I find it deeply troubling, not only because of what it represents culturally, but because of where it could lead legally. We are standing at the edge of a technological shift that allows people to generate hyper-realistic sexual imagery with a few lines of text. Some argue that if no “real” person was involved in producing the content, then no one was harmed. On paper, that may sound tidy. In reality, it opens a door we may not be prepared to close. My fear is not abstract. I can already see a legal gray zone emerging in which individuals caught with child sexual abuse material claim it was AI-generated. When the line between synthetic and real becomes increasingly difficult to prove, the burden shifts. Defense strategies will evolve. “It’s just AI” could become the new shield — a technicality masking something far darker. Even if the claim is false, proving otherwise may take time, expertise, and resources that overburdened systems do not always have. This is not alarmism. It is a foreseeable legal complication in an era when generative tools are improving at breakneck speed.”
Scott Draffin

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