West Virginia lawmaker seeks to beef up state police against AI-generated crimes involving children

West Virginia lawmakers are preparing legislation to expand state police capabilities to investigate child sexual abuse material, including AI-generated content, following testimony from the state's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Director Rachel Blankenship told the Joint Judiciary Committee that while law enforcement capacity to pursue CSAM tips has grown, it is barely keeping pace with the technology. Delegate Vince Deeds announced he will introduce legislation in January to enhance investigative powers over production, possession and financial sextortion involving CSAM. West Virginia defined computer-generated pornography in state code in 2025, putting the state ahead of the issue.

AI-generated CSAM floods reporting systems and complicates the identification of real victims, diverting investigative resources from children in immediate danger. Guardii's anti-CSAM detection module, calibrated to recognize both authentic and AI-generated material, operates at the point of exchange within encrypted messaging environments across Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, Roblox and other platforms. The system reports the threat signature and escalation trajectory rather than exposing investigators to content, flagging distribution or coercion in real time and enabling rapid escalation to law enforcement when a real child is at risk, addressing both the production and circulation vectors that overwhelm traditional reporting infrastructure.