US appeals court protects private possession of AI-generated child-abuse images

A U.S. appeals court ruled that a Wisconsin man cannot be prosecuted for possessing AI-generated images depicting child sexual abuse, as these images were created without the involvement of real children and kept privately. The controversial ruling is based on existing Supreme Court precedent protecting private possession of obscene material not involving real children. Steven Anderegg, 44, allegedly used an AI model to create thousands of realistic images of minors, some of which were sent to a 15-year-old boy via Instagram.