Law / United States / 
Illinois
Child sexual abuse material, computer-generated and digitally altered depictions
720 ILCS 5/11-20.1 (P.A. 104-245, eff. Jan. 1, 2026)
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What follows is LexLint's own research summary of this law, not legal advice.
In force 9 months, effective 1 January 2026.
An AI prohibited practices rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 6 September 2026.
What it requires
- An artificial-intelligence-generated or digitally altered image or video that is or appears to be a child under 18 is child sexual abuse material regardless of how it was produced; do not film, produce, disseminate, solicit, or possess one.
- A still-image violation is a Class 1 felony and a moving-image violation a Class X felony for most violations, each with a mandatory minimum fine between $1,000 and $2,000 and a maximum fine of $100,000; every tier becomes a Class X felony, or a mandatory 9-year minimum for a repeat offender, where the child depicted is under 13.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Class 1 felony (still image) or Class X felony (film, videotape, or other moving depiction) for most violations of subsection (a), each with a mandatory minimum fine of $1,000 to $2,000 (depending on which paragraph of subsection (a) was violated) and a maximum fine of $100,000; a subsection (a)(6) possession violation is a Class 3 felony (still) or Class 2 felony (moving) with a $1,000 mandatory minimum and $100,000 maximum. Where the child depicted is under 13, every tier in subsection (c) becomes a Class X felony (or Class 2 for the subsection (a)(6) possession offense), and a defendant with a qualifying prior conviction faces a mandatory minimum of 9 years (or, for the possession offense, a Class 1 felony).
Penalty structure
The $100,000 maximum fine is uniform across every tier of subsection (c) and (c-5); the mandatory minimum fine varies by paragraph of subsection (a), from $1,000 (paragraphs (2) and (6)) to $1,500 (paragraph (3)) to $2,000 (paragraphs (1), (4), (5), (7), and every subsection (c-5) tier for a victim under 13).
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- 6 September 2026
- Minimum
- 1,000
- Currency
- USD
- Fixed cap
- 100,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
A violation of this section is prosecuted by the State's Attorney for the county where it occurs, under the State's Attorney's general duty to prosecute criminal offenses; the Attorney General may attend the trial and assist in the prosecution, or investigate in connection with assisting a prosecution at a State's Attorney's request.
Enforcement record
The Illinois Attorney General's own press-release register continues to report new state prosecutions using the child sexual abuse material terminology this section adopted after its January 1, 2026 effective date, for example an August 18, 2026 charge and an August 13, 2026 sentencing, but no release in that period identifies the depicted material as computer-generated or digitally altered under the technology-neutral definition Public Act 104-245 added, so a count specific to that definition cannot be read from the register. Illinois circuit courts and the county state's attorneys who bring most prosecutions under this section publish no compiled count broken out to the amended definition either. actions_per_year is left unrecorded rather than estimated from general child sexual abuse material prosecution activity.
- As of
- 17 September 2026
- Source link
- https://illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/News-Room/index
What it reaches
Obligation class
Prohibition
What it makes you log
Logging duty
Section 11-20.1 defines and criminalizes child sexual abuse material, extending the definition to a computer-generated or digitally altered depiction regardless of how it was produced; it creates no duty for anyone to log, record, or document an AI system's involvement in producing or detecting such material.
- Kind
- None
- As of
- 21 September 2026
Who checks it
Audit expectation
none
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Section 11-20.1(a)(7) defines child sexual abuse material to include a film, photograph, or other visual medium or depiction by computer that is or appears to be a person under 18, regardless of the method by which it is created, adopted, or modified to appear as such, a technology-neutral test that reaches an artificial-intelligence-generated or AI-altered depiction on the same footing as a photograph of a real event.
Producing, disseminating, or possessing such material is a felony under subsection (c): a still-image violation is a Class 1 felony and a moving-image violation a Class X felony for most paragraphs of subsection (a), each carrying a mandatory minimum fine and a maximum fine of $100,000, with the mandatory minimum ranging from $1,000 to $2,000 depending on which paragraph of subsection (a) was violated; subsection (c-5) raises every tier to a Class X felony, and a repeat offender to a mandatory 9-year minimum term, where the child depicted is under 13.
The section was renamed from Child Pornography to Child Sexual Abuse Material by Public Act 104-245, effective January 1, 2026, without changing the underlying prohibition.
When LexLint raises it
generates_content
Read the law
official text, Illinois Compiled Statutes, Illinois General Assembly (ilga.gov)
Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.