Hereford photographer changes business practices after AI child pornography ruling

HEREFORD, Texas (KFDA) - A photographer in Hereford is changing her business practices after a federal judge ruled AI-generated child pornography is protected by the First Amendment.

A judge with the U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed child pornography charges against a man in Wisconsin, ruling the AI-generated material is constitutionally protected if it stays “within the home.”

The ruling has caused concerns across the country.

While Ashley Contreras usually posts her work on her website and social media, she is taking down pictures of children. She said as a business owner, she felt she had to do something to protect them from this potential danger.

“AI has taken over and what you want it to be at one point, it’s just an innocent picture of somebody riding a bike completely different by the end of the day when falling into the wrong hands. And it’s a lot harder to show examples of what I can do,” said Contreras.

Contreras says she hopes that other photographers follow the same path as her and learn how they can show off their work and protect children from this type of AI content at the same time.

She also wants to remind parents that even if a picture is deleted from social media, that doesn’t mean it’s gone forever. That photo could already be saved to someone’s drive, and what parents think is an innocent moment could be manipulated into something they never intended.

“But I take it personally, I treat each client like they’re my own kids. I wouldn’t like my kids’ pictures posted on the internet, so I don’t show my clients with permission or not. I don’t think I would be able to sleep with myself at night if I found out that images were taken from my page for the wrong purposes,” said Contreras.

She hopes more parents and other photographers become aware of this court ruling and protect kids from this type of AI content.