A person commits an offense by knowingly possessing, accessing with intent to view, or promoting certain obscene visual material, or by using an actual child's image to train an AI model for child pornography.
Sec. 43.235. POSSESSION, PROMOTION, OR PRODUCTION OF CERTAIN VISUAL MATERIAL APPEARING TO DEPICT CHILD. (a) In this section: (1) "Promote" has the meaning assigned by Section 43.25. (2) "Visual material" has the meaning assigned by Section 43.26. (b) A person commits an offense if the person: (1) knowingly possesses, accesses with intent to view, or promotes obscene visual material containing a depiction that appears to be of a child younger than 18 years of age engaging in activities described by Section 43.21(a)(1)(B), regardless of whether the depiction is an image of an actual child, a cartoon or animation, or an image created using an artificial intelligence application or other computer software; or (2) uses an image of an actual child younger than 18 years of age at the time the image was made with the intent to train an artificial intelligence model to produce visual material constituting child pornography under Section 43.26. (c) An offense under this section is a state jail felony, except that the offense is: (1) a felony of the third degree if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the person has been previously convicted one time of an offense under this section or Section 43.23, 43.26, 43.261, or 43.262; or (2) a felony of the second degree if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the person has been previously convicted two or more times of an offense under this section, Section 43.23, 43.26, 43.261, or 43.262, or any combination of those offenses. (d) If conduct constituting an offense under this section also constitutes an offense under another law, the actor may be prosecuted under this section, the other law, or both. Added by Acts 2025, 89th Leg., R.S., Ch. 756 (S.B. 20), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2025.