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Law / United States / Texas

S.B. 20 (2025), possession, promotion, or production of AI-generated or apparent child pornography

Tex. Penal Code § 43.235

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 September 2025.

An AI prohibited practices rule binding public and private bodies.

As of 6 September 2026.

What it requires

  • Do not knowingly possess, access with intent to view, or promote obscene visual material that appears to depict a child younger than 18 engaging in sexual conduct, whether the depiction is of an actual child, a cartoon or animation, or an AI-generated image.
  • Do not use an image of an actual child to train an AI model to produce material that constitutes child pornography.
  • Either offense is a state jail felony at minimum, rising to a third-degree felony on one prior conviction under this section or the related child-pornography sections, and a second-degree felony on two or more.

If you get it wrong

Criminal exposureYes

Criminal exposure note

A state jail felony, elevated to a third-degree felony on one prior conviction under this section or Section 43.23, 43.26, 43.261, or 43.262, and a second-degree felony on two or more such prior convictions.

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.

A person commits an offense by knowingly possessing, accessing with intent to view, or promoting obscene visual material that appears to depict a child younger than 18 engaging in sexual conduct, regardless of whether the depiction is of an actual child, a cartoon or animation, or an image created with an AI application or other computer software. A separate offense covers using an image of an actual child to train an AI model to produce material constituting child pornography.

The offense is a state jail felony, rising to a third-degree felony on one prior conviction under this section or the related child-pornography sections, and a second-degree felony on two or more.

When LexLint raises it

  • generates_content
  • trains_models
  • publishes_adult_content

Read the law

official codified text, Texas Constitution and Statutes, Texas Legislative Council

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