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7 Notre Dame J. on Emerging Tech. 1 (2026)

handle is hein.journals/ndjet7 and id is 1 raw text is: NOTRE DAME JOURNAL ON EMERGING TECH NOLOGIES VOLUME 7 April 2026 ISSUE 1 © 2026 Parker Felterman ARTICLES CHILDLESS, NOT VICTIMLESS: MORAL AND LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS OF AI-GENERATED CHILD PORNOGRAPHY PARKER FULTON FELTERMAN'* We are engaged in a race against time to protect the children of our country from the dangers of [artificial intelligence]. Indeed, the proverbial walls of the city have already been breached. Now is the time to act.2 0, brave new world, That has such people in 't!3 Abstract Pornography has long been considered protected under the First Amendment's right to free speech.4 Child pornography, meanwhile, maintains no such protections because the harm of child abuse involved outweighs any free speech rights.5 Child pornography created by artificial intelligence, however, is not necessarily created through child abuse, and so under current precedent is likely protected by the First Amendment. * J.D. Candidate, Notre Dame Law School, 2026. 2W. Clayton Wilder, Virtual Vice: The Urgent Need to Reassess Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition in the Age ofAI-Generated Child Pornography, 48 L. & PSYCH. REV. 169, 169 (2023-2024) (quoting Letter from Nat'l Ass'n of Att'ys Gen. on A.I. and the Exploitation of Child. to Cong. Leaders (Sept. 5, 2023)). 3 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, THE TEMPEST act 5, sc. 1, 1. 217-18. 4 See generally, Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557 (1969). 5 See generally, New York v. Ferber, 458 U.S. 747 (1982).