2023 Tennessee Code › Title 39 - CRIMINAL OFFENSES (§§ 39-1-101 — 39-17-1812) › Chapter 17 - OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELFARE (§§ 39-17-101 — 39-17-1812) › Part 10 - SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN (§§ 39-17-1001 — 39-17-1008) › Section 39-17-1002 - Part definitions

The following definitions apply in this part, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1)
"Artificial intelligence":
(A)
Means a machine-based system that:
(i)
Can, for a given set of human-defined objectives, make predictions, recommendations, or decisions; influence real and virtual environments without significant human oversight; or that can learn from experience in an automated manner and improve such performance when exposed to data sets; or
(ii)
Is developed in any context, including software or physical hardware, and solves tasks requiring human-like perception, cognition, planning, learning, communication, or physical action; and
(B)
Includes generative artificial intelligence;
(2)
"Community" means the judicial district, as defined by §
16-2-506
, in which a violation is alleged to have occurred;
(3)
"Generative artificial intelligence" means an artificial intelligence system that is capabl1e of creating new content or data, including text, images, audio, or video, when prompted by an individual;
(4)
"Material" means:
(A)
Any picture, drawing, photograph, undeveloped film or film negative, motion picture film, videocassette tape or other pictorial representation;
(B)
Any statue, figure, theatrical production or electrical reproduction;
(C)
Any image stored on a computer hard drive, a computer disk of any type, or any other medium designed to store information for later retrieval;
(D)
Any image transmitted to a computer or other electronic media or video screen, by telephone line, cable, satellite transmission, or other method that is capable of further transmission, manipulation, storage or accessing, even if not stored or saved at the time of transmission; or
(E)
Any computer image, or computer-generated image, including an image created, adapted, or modified by artificial intelligence, whether made or produced by electronic, mechanical, or other means;
(5)
"Minor" means any person who has not reached eighteen (18) years of age;
(6)
"Patently offensive" means that which goes substantially beyond customary limits of candor in describing or representing such matters;
(7)
"Performance" means any play, motion picture, photograph, dance, or other visual representation that can be exhibited before an audience of one (1) or more persons;
(8)
"Promote" means to finance, produce, direct, manufacture, issue, publish, exhibit or advertise, or to offer or agree to do those things;
(9)
"Prurient interest" means a shameful or morbid interest in sex; and
(10)
"Sexual activity" means any of the following acts:
(A)
Vaginal, anal or oral intercourse, whether done with another person or an animal;
(B)
Masturbation, whether done alone or with another human or an animal;
(C)
Patently offensive, as determined by contemporary community standards, physical contact with or touching of a person's clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks or breasts in an act of apparent sexual stimulation or sexual abuse;
(D)
Sadomasochistic abuse, including flagellation, torture, physical restraint, domination or subordination by or upon a person for the purpose of sexual gratification of any person;
(E)
The insertion of any part of a person's body or of any object into another person's anus or vagina, except when done as part of a recognized medical procedure by a licensed professional;
(F)
Patently offensive, as determined by contemporary community standards, conduct, representations, depictions or descriptions of excretory functions; or
(G)
Exhibition of the breast, genitals, buttocks, anus, or pubic or rectal area of any minor that can be reasonably construed as being for the purpose of the sexual arousal or gratification of the defendant or another.
Amended by 2024 Tenn. Acts, ch. 911,s 2, eff. 7/1/2024.
Amended by 2024 Tenn. Acts, ch. 911,s 1, eff. 7/1/2024.
Amended by 2021 Tenn. Acts, ch. 371, s 1, eff. 5/11/2021.
Amended by 2017 Tenn. Acts, ch. 249, s 1, eff. 5/2/2017.
Acts 1990, ch. 1092, § 7; 1995, ch. 216, § 1; 1999, ch. 343, §§ 1 - 4; 2001, ch. 147, § 1; 2005, ch. 496, § 1.