Secretary for Justice Paul Lam said on Saturday that the Law Reform Commission needed to consider whether creating AI-generated pornographic images of a person without consent should itself be an offence.

He was responding to a question on an RTHK radio programme about whether producing such images – without publishing or distributing them – would fall within the scope of a review into AI-related crime.

He said the issue "must be one of the research topics" in the review but stressed that no conclusion had been reached.

Lam said the question could be broken down into different levels: production, distribution and the use of such material to commit further offences such as extortion.

"There are many different levels. Where do you start? Everyone has to judge," he said.

"Whether to deal with it – this must be one of the issues in the study. But what the result will be, I think we really have to wait for the Law Reform Commission subcommittee to do more research and discussion."

Lam said the AI-related portion had been carved out from a broader Law Reform Commission review into computer crime and would be done first so that it could proceed more quickly to the public consultation stage.

The review, he stressed, must consider what message it sends about whether the law is regulating too much and discouraging the use or development of the technology.

Speaking more broadly about gaps in existing legislation, Lam signalled the review could lead to clearer legal definitions.

"But if there are things where, legally, we think we can write more clearly to increase legal certainty – especially when AI is involved – then perhaps the definition needs to be more targeted and clearer so that everyone knows where the legal red line is," he said. "That may be necessary."

On timing, Lam said he personally hoped some proposals could be produced by around the end of this year but made clear this was not a formal timetable.



Edited by Robert Kemp