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Deleting files is easy, but making sure those files cannot be recovered later requires a different approach. A normal file deletion operation usually removes filesystem references while leaving the underlying data in place. That allows operating systems to delete files quickly, but it also means recovery software can sometimes retrieve information from previously used storage space.

I always saw Android widgets as little information panels sitting on my home screen. What changed was noticing which apps I was opening purely to glance at something, then immediately closing. So, I started treating them as functional shortcuts rather than just a fancy UI thing, and they reduced my habit of launching the app in the first place.

Amazon's Fire TV devices offer great value for money, but not when you're intent on private listening with wireless earbuds. When I've used a Fire TV Stick, I've had to make do with stereo audio if I wanted to avoid waking my family. What's the point of paying for Dolby Atmos in my streaming services if I can only use it some of the time?

Wireless Android Auto is easy to use. You get in the car, and your phone connects on its own — which is what attracted me to it to begin with. However, as I started to use it more, I realized that the wired setup was actually worth all the hassle. I would rather have a phone that always works than the convenience of wireless.

Microsoft’s Phone Link is arguably the best cross-OS integration tool that closes the gap between your smartphone and Windows PC. For Android in particular, Microsoft has built some strong partnerships with major OEMs like Samsung, OnePlus, ASUS to integrate deeply with the OS, unlocking powerful features such as screen mirroring, app streaming, and cross-device clipboard.

PLA is the cheapest, safest, and arguably most versatile 3D printing filament, but it’s not without its drawbacks. In addition to being a poor choice for prints that live outside or need to withstand heat and direct sunlight, PLA can deform over time.

You have it way easier these days, but back in the day, when you wanted to play a game on your PC, you had to take a similar approach to consoles. Go to a physical store, get a disc, then pop it into your PC. Chances are, though, that nowadays your PC doesn't have a CD drive. So what do you do when you want to play your old games on your new PC?

OpenAI and Microsoft face another lawsuit from news organizations the Seattle Times and Newsday, which accuse the tech giants of using their sites to train AI without permission.

The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, alleges that the companies scraped paywalled content and added it to training datasets used for ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and the new AI-powered Bing.

SEE ALSO: Massachusetts state police ordered to make surveillance camera locations public

The chatbots were able to reproduce entire passages and closely paraphrase reporters' work, the publishers claim. The lawsuit demands that the tech companies destroy any existing copies of the published material, as well as training datasets or AI models that incorporate it, Reuters reported.

"We feel strongly that we must defend our content — which we spend millions of dollars a year to produce — from being used without our consent or compensation," wrote Seattle Times president and CEO ​Alan Fisco in a message to employees.

OpenAI said in a response to the press that the company only uses publicly available materials grounded in fair use for model training. Microsoft said it was surprised by the lawsuit, but was willing to "sit down and explore solutions" with the publishers.

The AI developer and its collaborator, Microsoft, have faced several court battles over its training data and alleged copyright infringement, including an ongoing lawsuit with the New York Times and a cohort of other publishers. The Times has argued that the company's products compete with the news outlet by reproducing its work without appropriately transforming it under existing fair use protections.

Last week, the Trump administration filed a Statement of Interest (SOI) in the case, with the Department of Justice (DOJ) writing that a decision siding with the New York Times would be a hit to local newsrooms and independent journalism. The DOJ argued that AI can be harnessed by small publishers to stay competitive with mainstream news outlets.

The brief also claims a Times win would "threaten national security" by stalling AI advancement and giving foreign competitors an edge. The administration has used this argument to attempt to thwart litigation against AI data centers, as well.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

How many of you still partake in streaming marathons? I'm talking about those binge-watching sessions where you wake up and crush an entire season of television in one sitting. I'm usually pressed for time, so I have to make strategic decisions about what I can watch in under 90 minutes. However, I still enjoy finishing a show in one sitting from time to time.

Massachusetts law enforcement can't withhold information about the locations of automatic license plate reader (ALPR) technology from the public, a superior court judge has ruled.

It's the latest speed bump to a swelling nationwide surveillance network spurred by controversial Flock cameras.

The decision ends a three-year court battle between the ACLU of Massachusetts and the state police, following the civil society group's 2023 lawsuit against the state for refusing to disclose records on the locations of ALPRs and the use of the public's data by police.

SEE ALSO: These hikers relied on tech and AI. They had to be rescued.

At the time, the state was holding an estimated 290 million records used to track motorists and monitor vehicle activity. The judge determined that state police could not justify withholding the information from the public and ordered an immediate release of ALPR records.

"Over the past year, public outrage about secretive police surveillance has exploded across Massachusetts and the nation," said Kade Crockford, director of technology and justice programs at the ACLU of Massachusetts. "People from cities and towns across the state have been organizing to push back against local police adoption of Flock and other license plate readers. But what many residents don’t know is that the Massachusetts State Police maintains its own statewide network of license plate readers."

The explosion of ALPR surveillance systems, enabled by the integration of sophisticated AI, has prompted concern from privacy advocates and free speech organizations. Communities have pushed back against the growing presence of Flock cameras, often engaging in guerrilla tactics to expose and disable them.

A bipartisan effort to regulate companies like Flock has gained momentum ahead of the midterm elections, with prominent voices from both parties pushing for legislation to restrict their use by authorities. Last month, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley announced he was leading an investigation into Flock, as state governments crack down on data collection and block funding for the private tech company.

"In my 20-plus years at the ACLU, I’ve never really seen such a grassroots uprising against surveillance technology like this," said ACLU senior policy analyst Jay Stanley in a recent interview with the Guardian.

If you're a fan of Ryobi's bright, neon-colored tools found at Home Depot, you likely already know the company makes far more than just tools for around the yard and house. One of its best-kept secrets is how the 18V platform can power camping and outdoor gear. I own a ton of Ryobi products for camping, and here are several that are absolutely worth buying.

The Back to the Future trilogy is such a huge part of my childhood, along with all the other 80s and 90s kids like myself, but it's not the only time travel movie worth your, er, time.

XREAL has been teasing its Android XR glasses for over a year, but now they're finally close to launch. I got to try them on ahead of their expected fall release, and in many ways they're extremely impressive — but also make the limitations of modern mixed reality (XR) wearables very clear.

Many portable projectors are still too bulky for everyday carry. Aurzen changed that with the ZIP, the world’s first tri-fold projector. It collapsed to roughly the size of a small stack of cards, making it genuinely pocketable.

Most modern 3D printers meet or exceed the bar of satisfactory print quality, making it a relatively trivial metric for comparing models. If you’re shopping for a printer right now, you’ll want to consider some other things instead.

For most people, a 25-year-old video patent expiring sounds like a piece of legal housekeeping that has nothing to do with their computers. But for Linux users, it removes one more obstacle that has historically made something as basic as playing a video more complicated than it should be. Here’s everything you need to know and what this means about your media usage.

I love the simplicity and automation of my Google Account storage and how I can save valuable photos, videos, screenshots, PC/device files, and my Android phone data with little effort, but I don't like how easily and quickly it fills up, especially with default settings. I was frustrated, so I decided to take control of what Google syncs to regain valuable space. Google Account storage has definitely changed over the last decade, like Google Photos' Image Saver media becoming part of your storage space (June 1, 2021) and Drive separating from Photos (July 2019) because it was "supposedly" confusing to consumers.

When I first saw the crazy thing iPhone Air and Galaxy Edge, I wasn't interested. I had never cared when companies boasted about how many millimeters they had shaved off a device. Now I feel differently, and it wasn't Apple or Samsung who changed my mind— it was Boox.

The best Labor Day tech deals at a glance: Best Apple deal Apple AirTag (2nd Gen, 4-pack) $79.99 (save $19.01) Get Deal Best laptop deal HP OmniBook 3 16 (Snapdragon X, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) $599.99 (save $550) Get Deal Best TV deal TCL 65-inch QM8L Mini-LED QLED 4K TV $1,397.99 (save $1,102) Get Deal Best headphones deal Sony WH-1000XM5 $198 (save $201.99) Get Deal Best smart home deal Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Select $19.99 (save $30) Get Deal

Labor Day sales are already live in full force. It's an especially good time to shop if you've been thinking about upgrading some older tech: For one thing, these sales offer some welcome relief from RAMageddon-related price hikes (which just keep coming, ugh). For another, they're probably your last real chance to save on big-ticket gadgets like laptops, TVs, and premium headphones until late October, when early Black Friday festivities get going.

Below, I've rounded up a big batch of the best Labor Day tech deals that I could find at Amazon, Best Buy, and beyond. That includes new record-low prices on devices from brands like Apple, Sony, and TCL, with discounts soaring as high as 60%.

Most retailers' Labor Day sales run through Labor Day proper on Monday, Sept. 7, so I'll continue to update this story into the long weekend.

Best Labor Day Apple deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple AirTag (2nd Gen, 4-pack) $79.99 at Amazon and Walmart
$99 Save $19.01   Get Deal

Individual AirTags are marked down to $24 this week, but if you snag a four-pack on sale for $79.99, you're only paying $19.99 per tracker. (That deal is up for grabs at both Amazon and Walmart, by the way, and it's a new all-time low.) Apple updated the AirTag with a louder speaker and a bigger finding range at the beginning of the year. Mashable's Stan Schroeder called it "a useful little thing" that "saved me a lot of worrying once when my baggage got lost," rating it a 4.2/5.

Read Mashable's full review of the Apple AirTag (2nd Gen).

AirPods deals

• Apple AirPods 4 — $99 $129 (save $30)

• Apple AirPods 4 with ANC — $148.99 $179 (save $30.01)

• Apple AirPods Pro 3 — $199 $249 (save $50)

• Apple AirPods Max 2 — $479 $549 (save $70)

iPad deals

• Apple iPad, 11-inch (A16, WiFi, 128GB) — $399 $449 (save $50)

• Apple iPad Air, 11-inch (M4, WiFi, 128GB) — $649 $749 (save $100)

• Apple iPad Air, 13-inch (M4, WiFi, 128GB) — $849 $949 (save $100)

• Apple iPad Pro, 11-inch (M5, WiFi, 512GB) — $1,299 $1,399 (save $100)

• Apple iPad Pro, 13-inch (M5, WiFi, 256GB) — $1,399.99 $1,499 (save $99.01)

MacBook deals

• Apple MacBook Neo (A18 Pro, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $689.99 $699 (save $9.01)

• Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M5, 24GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,649 $1,799 (save $150)

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M5, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,849.99 $1,999 (save $149.01)

• Apple MacBook Pro, 16-inch (M5 Pro, 24GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $2,759.99 $2,999 (save $239.01)

More Apple accessory deals

• Apple AirTag (2nd Gen) — $24 $29 (save $5)

• Apple Pencil (USB-C) — $69.98 $79 (save $9.02)

• Apple Pencil Pro — $97 $129 (save $32)

• Apple Magic Keyboard Folio for iPad — $199 $249 (save $50)

• Apple iPad Magic Keyboard Case for iPad Pro (11-inch) — $225 $299 (save $74)

Best Labor Day TV deal Opens in a new window Credit: TCL TCL 65-inch QM8L Mini-LED QLED 4K TV $1,397.99 at Amazon
$2,499.99 Save $1,102.00   Get Deal

Offering a sharp, ultra-bright picture and boasting a clean, virtually bezel-free design, this TCL display is our favorite 65-inch QLED TV for most people. It's an especially good pick for folks "who know they'll be doing a good amount of their TV watching in the daytime," wrote Leah Stodart, Mashable's former TV expert. That's you, college football fans. Its Labor Day sale price of $1,397.99 on Amazon — a 44% savings — marks its lowest price ever. That beats a rivaling deal at Best Buy by $2.

50- and 55-inch TV deals

• Insignia 50-inch F50 4K TV — $159.99 $299.99 (save $140)

• Amazon 50-inch Omni QLED 4K Fire TV — $259.99 $469.99 (save $210)

• LG 55-inch LX7B Gallery Mini-LED 4K TV — $699.99 $1,299.99 (save $600)

• Hisense 55-inch UR8 RGB Mini-LED 4K TV — $899.99 $1,499.99 (save $600)

• Hisense 55-inch U6 Pro Mini‑LED 4K Fire TV — $497.99 $849.99 (save $352)

65-inch TV deals

• LG 65-inch LX7B Gallery Mini-LED 4K TV — $899.99 $1,799.99 (save $900)

• Hisense 65-inch S7 Canvas Hi-QLED 4K TV — $997.99 $1,999.99 (save $1,002)

• Sony 65-inch Bravia 7 Mini-LED QLED 4K TV — $1,298 $1,598 (save $300)

• Samsung 65-inch S85H OLED 4K TV — $1,397.99 $1,999.99 (save $602)

• LG 65-Inch B6 OLED 4K TV — $1,399.99 $1,999.99 (save $600)

• Samsung 65-inch S90H OLED 4K TV — $1,597.99 $2,697.99 (save $1,100)

• Hisense 65-inch UR9 RGB Mini-LED 4K TV — $1,699.99 $2,199.99 (save $500)

• Sony 65-inch Bravia 8 II QD QLED 4K TV — $2,498 $3,299.99 (save $801.99)

• Samsung 65-inch S95H OLED 4K TV — $2,799.99 $3,399.99 (save $600)

75-inch TV deals

• Hisense 75-inch U6 Pro Mini-LED ULED 4K TV — $797.99 $1,399.99 (save $602)

• Hisense 75-inch U7 Mini-LED ULED 4K TV — $1,197.99 $1,999.99 (save $802)

• Samsung 75-inch R85H Micro RGB 4K TV — $1,999.99 $2,799.99 (save $800)

• Sony 75-inch Bravia 7 II RGB 4K TV — $2,299.99 $3,099.99 (save $800)

• Samsung 75-inch The Frame Pro QLED 4K TV — $2,397.99 $2,797.99 (save $400)

• Samsung 75-inch R95H RGB 4K TV — $3,799.99 $4,499.99 (save $700)

Deals on 80-inch TVs and larger

• Insignia 85-inch Class F50 Series 4K Fire TV — $599.99 $899.99 (save $300)

• Hisense 85-inch U6 Pro Hi-QLED Mini-LED 4K TV — $1,097.99 $1,999.99 (save $902)

• Samsung 85-inch M80H Mini-LED 4K TV — $1,199.99 $1,799.99 (save $600)

• Hisense 85-inch U7 Mini-LED ULED 4K TV — $1,397.99 $2,499.99 (save $1,102)

• Hisense 100-inch U6 Mini-LED 4K TV — $1,999.99 $2,999.99 (save $1,000)

• Hisense 85-inch UR8 RGB Mini-LED 4K TV — $2,199.99 $3,499.99 (save $1,300)

• TCL 98-inch QM7L SQD-Mini-LED QLED 4K TV — $2,497.99 $3,999.99 (save $1,502)

• Hisense 100-inch UR8 RGB Mini-LED 4K TV — $3,499.99 $5,999.99 (save $2,500)

Best Labor Day headphones deal Opens in a new window Credit: Sony Sony WH-1000XM5 $198 at Amazon and Best Buy
$399.99 Save $201.99   Get Deal

The last-gen Sony XM5s are an honorable mention on our best headphones guide because they're sooo similar to the newer XM6s, and because they're frequently on sale. (The $460 XM6s really only add folding ear cups and slightly better sound out of the box.) This week, the XM5s are chilling at their lowest price yet: Amazon and Best Buy both have them listed for $198 during their Labor Day events, which is a whopping 51% off their $399.99 MSRP.

Read Mashable's full review of the Sony WH-1000XM5.

More headphone deals

• Sony WH-CH520 — $38 $69.99 (save $31.99)

• Anker Soundcore Q20i — $39.97 $69.99 (save $30.02)

• Marshall Major V — $89.99 $169.99 (save $80)

• Sony ULT Wear — $148 $249.99 (save $101.99)

• Beats Studio Buds + — $149.95 $169.95 (save $20)

• Nothing Headphone (a) — $159 $199 (save $40)

• Bose QuietComfort — $199 $359 (save $160)

• Beats Studio Pro — $249.95 $349.99 (save $100.04)

• Sonos Ace — $299 $399 (save $100)

• Bose QuietComfort Ultra — $329 $449 (save $120)

• Sony WH-1000XM6 — $398 $459.99 (save $61.99)

Best Labor Day laptop deal Opens in a new window Credit: HP HP OmniBook 3 16 (Snapdragon X, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) $599.99 at Staples
$1,149.99 Save $550   Get Deal

This 16-inch PC is the best battery life laptop we've ever tested: It lasted 40 hours and 14 minutes in a video rundown test. Its portable design and large, colorful display are also highlights — it's "great for streaming movies and juggling multiple documents" on the go, to quote my review. This model with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage would make a great daily driver for folks with basic workloads (think web browsing and sending emails). It's 47% off at Staples right now; the same configuration is $90 pricier on HP's website.

Read Mashable's full review of the HP OmniBook 3 16.

More Windows laptop deals

• HP OmniBook Ultra 14 (Snapdragon X2 Elite, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,799.99 $2,249.99 (save $450)

• Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S (Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070Ti, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,899.99 $2,199.99 (save $300)

• Asus Zenbook Duo (Intel Core Ultra 9 386H, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $2,199.99 $2,499.99 (save $300)

• Dell XPS 14 (Intel Core Ultra X7 358H, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $2,699.99 $3,149.99 (save $450)

Chromebook deals

• Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 (MediaTek Kompanio Ultra, 12GB RAM, 256GB UFS) — $579 $749 (save $170)

Best Labor Day smart home deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Select $19.99 at Amazon and Best Buy
$49.99 Save $30.00   Get Deal

A slew of Amazon's smart home devices saw price hikes last month, but fortunately, most of the lineup is on sale for Labor Day. The biggest discount is going to the Fire TV Stick 4K Select, Amazon's cheapest 4K streaming stick: It typically retails for $49.99 these days (previously $39.99), but it's currently listed for just $19.99 at Amazon and Best Buy — an impressive 60% savings. It's only $2 away from its record-low Prime Day price.

More streaming stick deals

• Amazon Fire TV Stick HD — $17.99 $39.99 (save $22)

• Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus — $39.99 $69.99 (save $30)

• Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max — $49.99 $84.99 (save $35)

• Amazon Fire TV Cube — $109.99 $199.99 (save $90)

• Amazon Echo Studio — $194.99 $219.99 (save $25)

Smart speaker and display deals

• Amazon Echo Pop Kids — $29.99 $49.99 (save $20)

• Amazon Echo Dot Kids — $54.99 $89.99 (save $35)

• Amazon Echo Dot — $54.99 $79.99 (save $25)

• Amazon Echo Show 5 — $69.99 $99.99 (save $30)

• Amazon Echo Spot — $69.99 $109.99 (save $40)

• Amazon Echo Dot Max — $94.99 $119.99 (save $25)

• Amazon Echo Show 8 — $149.99 $199.99 (save $50)

• Amazon Echo Show 11 — $189.99 $249.99 (save $60)

• Amazon Echo Show 15 — $269.99 $349.99 (save $80)

• Sonos Era 300 — $379 $479 (save $100)

Smart thermostats

• Google Nest Thermostat — $79 $129.99 (save $50.99)

Looking for more Labor Day sales?

• The best Labor Day deals already live: Shop mattresses, tools, and TVs

• The best pre-Labor Day deals on Apple products

• The best Labor Day sales on mattresses, bedding, and pillows

• The best Labor Day home improvement deals from The Home Depot

• Shop the Ruggable pre-Labor Day sale on washable rugs

Dr. Mary Anne Franks gets why people may be upset by a recent court ruling on possessing AI-generated child sexual abuse material.

The decision, issued in late August by a federal appeals court panel, found that the First Amendment protects the possession of child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, in the home if it was created using artificial intelligence and does not depict an actual child.

"A lot of people have quite understandable intuitions about how wrong this sounds, or how it sounds like there's something radical going on here," said Franks, the Eugene L. and Barbara A. Bernard Professor in Intellectual Property, Technology, and Civil Rights at the George Washington University Law School.

SEE ALSO: Grok CSAM lawsuit expands as more step forward

Instead, Franks said the panel adhered to Supreme Court decisions issued decades ago, before AI could render hyper-realistic images of fake people and fake images of real people.

"I do think it's a really straightforward reading of prior precedent, but I also understand why it's really upsetting to hear," Franks told Mashable.

But that's not the end of the story. The judges made clear their discomfort with the conclusion by signaling to the Supreme Court that it might reconsider the precedent. Franks called the move "unusual."

"[G]iven the significant advances in computer-generated image technology, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence, we would benefit from additional guidance from the Supreme Court regarding the intersection between the First Amendment and virtual CSAM if an appropriate case should arise," wrote Judges John Z. Lee and Joshua P. Kolar.

What is the AI CSAM case really about?

The three-judge panel, which is part of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, considered the facts of a federal case against Steven Anderegg, a software engineer who used generative AI tools to create "hyper-realistic" CSAM.

Not only did he allegedly produce, distribute, and possess the material, but he also sent it to a minor via Instagram direct messages in Oct. 2023. Meta, Instagram's parent company, detected and reported the image and reported it to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's CyberTipline.

A law enforcement investigation subsequently led to Anderegg's arrest. He was charged with multiple crimes, including knowingly possessing "at least one visual depiction that depicted a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct and was obscene."

Anderegg moved to dismiss the possession charge, arguing that conviction for possession of CSAM would violate his First Amendment rights as defined by past Supreme Court decisions. A district court agreed. Prosecutors appealed that decision, landing the case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, which ultimately dropped the possession charge.

Anderegg still faces charges for producing and distributing CSAM.

Why is this kind of CSAM protected by the First Amendment?

A combination of past Supreme Court cases led to the dropping of Anderegg's CSAM possession charge, Franks explained.

Namely, in 1969, the Supreme Court ruled in Stanley v. Georgia that individuals have a right to possess obscenity in their own home.

By 1990, however, the Supreme Court carved out an exception when it addressed the possession of "child pornography" in Osborne v. Ohio. The decision recognized that, possession of CSAM, even if viewed only in the home, serves both as a permanent record of a child's abuse and as a potential lure for other victims. Prohibiting possession of this material could help decrease the demand and production of CSAM, the justices reasoned. 

Then, in 2002, the Supreme Court considered a federal law provision that prohibited the possession of virtual CSAM. The ban was broadly written to include any visual depiction or computer-generated image that appeared to be of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

The court struck down the provision and effectively declared that entirely computer-generated CSAM is protected by the First Amendment.

The Court did not address another provision of the federal law that banned "morphed" CSAM, or computer-generated CSAM created using images of real children.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit judges who recently relied on the 2002 ruling to decide Anderegg's appeal acknowledged the difficulty of doing so.

"Given the relentless advancement in artificial intelligence models, we have some concerns about the lines these cases draw, but we are not free to redraw them ourselves," Judge John Z. Lee wrote in his opinion.

What happens next with AI CSAM

The government has not yet appealed the 7th Circuit's decision, but Franks said it has the option to do so. In that scenario, the Supreme Court would consider taking up the case in the October term.

Franks said the conclusion that fully virtual CSAM is protected by the First Amendment could be successfully challenged. In particular, the government could argue that AI models have indeed been trained on CSAM imagery.

As a result, even if a particular AI-generated CSAM image doesn't depict a real child, it may have been produced using an image of a real child being victimized.

Franks does believe that prohibitions of virtual CSAM must be very narrowly and carefully defined to avoid "weaponization by moralistic crusaders with anti-LGBTQ+, misogynist, and/or anti-sexual education agendas."

The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, for example, argues that porn should be outlawed and those who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned. Project 2025 links porn to "the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology and sexualization of children."

Still, Franks said the risks of AI CSAM are real and present, not hypothetical possibilities.

In her opinion, AI CSAM normalizes the sexualization of children by adults and by other children, undermining their bodily autonomy, self-esteem, and flourishing.

"The question we should be asking is what possible benefit AI CSAM provides that justifies such harms," Franks said.

If you are a child being sexually exploited online, or you know a child who is being sexually exploited online, or you witnessed exploitation of a child occur online, you can report it to the CyberTipline, which is operated by the National Center for Missing Exploited & Children.