Law / United States / North Carolina
AI-Generated Intimate Images and Child Sexual Abuse Material (Session Law 2024-37, HB 591)
N.C. Sess. Law 2024-37 (H.B. 591); N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 14-190.5A, 14-190.13
A citation is an address, not a summary. The first part names the law; what follows narrows it to the exact section, article or paragraph.
In force since 1 December 2024.
An AI prohibited practices rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 6 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not knowingly disclose, without the depicted person's consent, a realistic AI-generated or AI-modified image depicting them nude or engaged in sexual conduct, if you intend to coerce, harass, intimidate, demean, humiliate, or cause financial loss to them.
- Do not create, adapt, or distribute an AI-generated or AI-modified visual depiction that meets North Carolina's definition of child sexual abuse material; the same offenses that apply to a real photograph apply to a realistic AI-generated depiction of an identifiable minor.
- A person whose image you disclose in violation of this law can also sue you for liquidated damages of at least the higher of one thousand dollars per day of violation or ten thousand dollars, plus punitive damages and attorneys' fees.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionYes
What it reaches
Obligation class
Prohibition
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Session Law 2024-37 (House Bill 591), effective December 1, 2024, amended section 14-190.5A, disclosure of private images, and section 14-190.13, the shared definitions section for North Carolina's sexual-exploitation-of-a-minor offenses, so that 'image' and 'material' each include a realistic visual depiction created, adapted, or modified by technological means, including algorithms or artificial intelligence, such that a reasonable person would believe it depicts an identifiable person.
Under section 14-190.5A as amended, a person who knowingly discloses such a depiction of an identifiable adult without consent, with intent to coerce, harass, intimidate, demean, humiliate, or cause financial loss, commits disclosure of private images, a Class H felony for an adult offender, and the depicted person may also bring a civil action for liquidated damages of at least the higher of one thousand dollars per day of violation or ten thousand dollars, plus punitive damages and attorneys' fees.
Section 14-190.13's amended definition of material extends North Carolina's existing first, second, and third degree sexual exploitation of a minor offenses to reach AI-generated child sexual abuse material on the same terms as a photograph, without itself restating those offenses' own penalties.
When LexLint raises it
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