Texas Legislature Advances AV Bill for AI Pornography

AUSTIN, Texas—In a first, the Texas state legislature continues to advance a bill that requires age verification for online platforms that generate and host AI-generated porn. Introduced by a bipartisan class of lawmakers, this bill would require age verification for users of synthetic sexual imagery that could be "harmful to minors." The bill is House Bill (HB) 581. It passed through the House of Representatives with broad support, including being advanced out of the committee unanimously.  "A commercial entity that operates an Internet website with a publicly accessible tool for creating artificial sexual material harmful to minors or otherwise makes publicly available an application for creating sexual material harmful to minors shall use reasonable age verification methods [...] to verify an individual attempting to access the tool is 18 years of age or older," reads the latest version of the bill. Now, the bill is before the state Senate. Texas in 2023 adopted House Bill 1181, which implemented age verification for traditional pornography platforms. If adopted, HB 581 would enter into force on September 1, 2025.