Last week, Catch the Wave of Hope shared our concerns about a federal appeals court ruling involving AI-generated child sexual abuse material. The ruling highlighted a growing problem: technology is changing faster than many of the laws designed to protect children, and laws need to be updated to address our current environment. This week, Florida took a significant step toward addressing part of that problem. On September 8, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced proposed legislation that would hold companies that own, control, or distribute artificial intelligence systems accountable when those systems participate in criminal activity. The proposal would apply to companies with practical control over an AI system’s design, training, deployment, or safety settings. If convicted, a company could face substantial fines, payments to victims, and court-ordered monitoring. Why This Matters for Children For Catch the Wave of Hope, one part of the Attorney General’s announcement was particularly important. FDLE Commissioner Mark Glass specifically addressed AI-generated child sexual abuse material, stating that even fabricated material can cause serious harm. He shared that it can delay investigations, create new pathways for exploitation, and harm real children and families. That closely reflects the concerns we raised last week. AI-generated exploitation does not exist in a separate “virtual” world. Technology can be used to create abusive images, manipulate photos of real children, facilitate exploitation, and add enormous amounts of synthetic material to systems investigators already rely on to identify children who may be in danger. It can place an undue burden on organizations, such as our partner the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, who work to help identify victims. Florida has already taken action in this area. Earlier this year, the state increased the penalty for creating AI-generated child sexual abuse material to a second-degree felony. Technology Can Change. Our Responsibility Cannot. AI offers tremendous possibilities. The challenge is making sure that innovation does not move forward without meaningful safeguards and accountability. When technology is used in ways that facilitate exploitation or put children at risk, our laws and safety systems need to be able to respond. The Attorney General’s proposal will now be part of a larger legislative conversation. The details matter, and lawmakers will have to determine how accountability should work in practice. But the larger conversation is one we believe Florida and the entire country needs to have. At Catch the Wave of Hope, our focus remains the same: prevention, education, awareness, and protecting children before harm occurs. Courts, lawmakers, technology companies, law enforcement, parents, schools, and community organizations all play and important role. Technology will continue to evolve, we must evolve our laws to adapt to the change. We promise our commitment to protecting children will never falter, we will always remain dedicated to meeting changes head-on, looking to always ensure our communities stay safe.
Sometimes, a single headline forces us to pause, catch our breath, and realize just how quickly the digital world is changing beneath our children’s feet. You may have seen the news about a deeply troubling federal appeals court ruling decided on August 25. A Wisconsin software engineer used artificial intelligence to generate hundreds of hyper-realistic, sexually explicit images of prepubescent children. The court ruled that the First Amendment protects the private, in-home possession of these AI-generated images, as long as they depict a "virtual" child rather than a real, living person. The appellate judges made it clear that their hands were legally tied to pre-internet precedents from 1969 and 2002—decisions written long before anyone could have imagined a computer program capable of generating flawless, lifelike abuse in seconds. In his ruling, Judge John Z. Lee issued a stark warning that "the law is being left behind" and pleaded with the Supreme Court to modernize these outdated guidelines. While creators and distributors of this material can still be prosecuted, this ruling leaves a dangerous loophole for possession. At Catch the Wave of Hope, we must be absolutely clear: virtual abuse is not a victimless crime. The Reality Behind the "Virtual" Myth Predators and offenders on dark web forums often try to justify their actions by saying, “At least I didn’t hurt a real child.” But child protection experts and advocates know that synthetic abuse is directly connected to real-world harm. It relies on the violation of real survivors: AI models do not create images out of thin air. They are trained on massive datasets scraped from the internet, which have been shown to contain actual, real-world abuse images. Predators are actively using AI to manipulate historical images of real survivors into new, more extreme scenarios—subjecting them to a terrifying, endless cycle of exploitation. It is actively used to blackmail local kids: Predators are using "nudify" apps to take normal, fully clothed photos of children from social media and digitally strip them to extort money or real explicit images. This is happening in schools right now. Thorn’s research reveals that 1 in 8 teens personally knows someone who has been targeted by an AI deepfake. It paralyzes the rescue pipeline: The sheer volume of synthetic abuse is overwhelming child protection systems. Generative AI reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTipline exploded from 4,700 in 2023 to over 400,000 in 2025 . Automated filters cannot catch these unique pixel patterns, forcing investigators to manually review hundreds of thousands of files just to tell the difference between synthetic and real children. This drains precious time away from locating and rescuing kids in active, physical danger. Standing Up on the Ground: Our Voice As advocates working directly in local schools, community groups, and neighborhoods, we know the real-world anxiety this technology causes. Kids are terrified; surveys show that 60% of young people are deeply worried about someone using AI to create inappropriate images of them. We refuse to wait for the legal system to catch up. Sarah Marie Henry, BSW, Executive Director: "Technology should never be used as a shield to excuse child exploitation. As advocates on the ground, we know that 'virtual' abuse is directly connected to real-world grooming. Our laws must evolve to protect children's futures, not the technology being used to exploit them." Kelly Laurine, Board Chair: "As a 100% community-funded grassroots non-profit, we aren't waiting for the legal system to catch up. Our commitment to protecting kids across the Treasure Coast is absolute, and we are doubling down on our front-line prevention work right now." How We Fight Back: Building a Shield of Prevention We believe with every fiber of our being that prevention is the single most powerful tool we have. While the courts debate and the laws crawl forward, we are actively in local classrooms, churches, and neighborhoods building a shield of protection: In local classrooms: We partner with the Monique Burr Foundation to teach Florida state-approved, age-appropriate safety lessons directly to students, helping them recognize online grooming and understand how to keep their digital lives safe. We are also Community Education Partners with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children , which allows us to bring their Netsmartz & Kidsmartz Video Curricula into our community and schools when we educate. Equipping local families: We host free community trainings to help parents recognize online grooming tactics, set healthy digital boundaries, and understand the hidden dangers of the apps on their children's phones. Real, measurable impact: Through your support, we have already equipped over 5,000 local individuals across Martin County and the Treasure Coast with the tools they need to stay safe. We are going to keep showing up, we are going to keep educating, and we are going to keep standing between our children and those who wish them harm. But we cannot do it alone. Join the Wave of Hope Catch the Wave of Hope is a 100% community-funded grassroots organization. We don't rely on big government grants—we rely on neighbors, parents, and local businesses who care about the safety of our children. Here is how you can stand with us today: Talk to your kids: Have the hard conversations. Teach them about personal digital boundaries and reassure them they can always talk to you. Host a training: Bring our free safety and prevention training to your neighborhood group, school, or house of worship. Donate: Invest in front-line prevention to help us expand our safety programs to more local classrooms. If you want to learn how to protect your family or support our mission, please reach out to us at info@catchthewaveofhope.org or visit our website to get involved. Our kids deserve a safe childhood—online and off. Let’s build it for them, together. Quick Safety Resources for Families Report Exploitation: If you suspect child sexual exploitation or abuse (including AI-generated content), file an anonymous report immediately at CyberTipline.org . Remove Explicit Content: If a sexually explicit image of a minor—whether real or AI-created—has been posted online, use NCMEC's anonymous Take It Down tool at takeitdown.ncmec.org .