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Law / United States / South Carolina

AI-Generated and Morphed Images of an Identifiable Minor (2025 Act No. 58, S.29)

S.C. Code Ann. §§ 16-15-375(8), 16-15-395, 16-15-405, 16-15-410, 16-15-412

In force since .

An AI prohibited practices rule binding public and private bodies.

Obligation class
Prohibition
Audit expectation
none
Setting the rule reaches
General

What it requires

  • Do not record, photograph, film, develop, duplicate, produce, or create for sale or pecuniary gain a visual depiction of a minor, or a morphed image of an identifiable minor, including a computer-generated or AI-altered image, engaged in sexual activity or appearing in a state of sexually explicit nudity; this is first degree sexual exploitation of a minor.
  • Do not record, distribute, transport, exhibit, receive, sell, purchase, exchange, or solicit such a depiction or morphed image; this is second degree sexual exploitation of a minor.
  • Do not possess such a depiction or morphed image; this is third degree sexual exploitation of a minor.
  • The depicted minor does not have to be an actual participant in any sexual conduct: a morphed image is one created, adapted, or modified using an actual, recognizable minor's likeness to make it appear that minor is engaged in sexual conduct or sexually explicit nudity, so a synthetic or AI-generated depiction of a real, identifiable minor is covered on the same terms as a photograph.

These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.

In the frameworks

NIST AI RMF
  • MAP 3.3Targeted application scope is specified and documented based on the system’s capability, established context, and AI system categorization.
NIST AI 600-1
MIT mitigations Draft
  • 1.5Safety Decision Frameworks
  • 3.3Access Management
FINOS AIGF
ETSI EN 304 223
  • 5.1.2-1Business need and security risks written down and assessed before deciding to build an AI system.
  • 5.1.4-5End-users told which uses of the system are prohibited.

Our reading of where this law's duties sit in each framework. It never says that running a control meets the law. How we read a framework against the law

Identifiers refer to ETSI EN 304 223 V2.1.1 (2025-12), © ETSI 2025, all rights reserved. ETSI owns the standard; no ETSI text (titles or sentences) is reproduced here. The standard is free to download from ETSI.

If you get it wrong

Criminal exposureYes

Criminal exposure note

First degree sexual exploitation of a minor under Section 16-15-395 is a felony punishable by imprisonment of not less than five years nor more than twenty years, with no part of the minimum sentence suspendable and no parole eligibility until the minimum term is served; a person previously convicted of an offense requiring sex offender registration receives an additional five years. Second degree sexual exploitation of a minor under Section 16-15-405 is a felony punishable by imprisonment of not less than three years nor more than ten years, under the same suspension and parole restrictions. Third degree sexual exploitation of a minor under Section 16-15-410 is a felony punishable by imprisonment of not more than ten years where the person possesses twenty-five or fewer images, one to ten years for twenty-six to two hundred fifty images, and two to ten years for more than two hundred fifty images. The 2026 Act No. 189 (H.4804) set these terms, effective .

What it makes you log

Logging duty

Section 16-15-375(8) defines a morphed image and Sections 16-15-395, 16-15-405 and 16-15-410 punish producing, distributing, or possessing one of an identifiable minor the same as a real photograph; Section 16-15-412 restricts how an arrest warrant for the offense may issue. None of these sections creates a duty to log, record, or document an AI system's role in creating or detecting a morphed image.

Kind
None
As of

What this law does

Drafted with AI

Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page. How this site is made

Research summary

Legal information, not legal advice. This is LexLint's own research summary of a public legal source, and it creates no attorney-client relationship. For decisions that matter, consult qualified counsel in the relevant jurisdiction. About LexLint

2025 Act No. 58 (S.29), effective , added a definition of 'morphed image' at Section 16-15-375(8), covering any visual depiction, including a computer or computer-generated image, that has been created, adapted, or modified to appear that an identifiable minor is engaged in sexual conduct or sexually explicit nudity.

The same act inserted that term into South Carolina's first, second, and third degree sexual exploitation of a minor offenses (Sections 16-15-395, 16-15-405, 16-15-410), so that producing, distributing, or possessing a morphed depiction of an identifiable minor is punished the same as a real photograph of that minor.

The act also added Section 16-15-412, restricting an arrest warrant for a morphed-image offense to one issued on a state grand jury true bill or a probable-cause finding from an Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force investigation conducted with the Attorney General's Office.

When LexLint raises it

When your app profile says your app generates images with AI, generates video with AI or publishes adult content.

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