I think there's a big range of possibilities there and they're not mutually exclusive.
There's the possibility that watching FOO directly encourages viewers to do FOO in real life. Like you said, this is the most fragile. I think clearly this is true in some cases -- most of us have seen a food commercial on TV and thought, "I could really go for that right now." I'm less convinced that it's true for something like pedophilia: the average person will be revolted by it, not encouraged, unless they already are into that kind of awful thing.
There's the possibility that watching FOO doesn't directly encourage viewers to do FOO, but serves to kind of normalize it. I think this happens a lot, but I think it takes a carefully crafted context and message.
There's the possibility that AI generated CP could actually helps children, by providing a safe outlet for pedophiles so that they wouldn't need to do heinous shit in real life. I recall reading studies that instances of (adult) rape in societies were inversely correlated with the availability of (adult) pornography, with a possible explanation being that porn provided a safe outlet for people who weren't getting the kind of sex they wanted.
There's the possibility that watching FOO directly encourages viewers to do FOO in real life. Like you said, this is the most fragile. I think clearly this is true in some cases -- most of us have seen a food commercial on TV and thought, "I could really go for that right now." I'm less convinced that it's true for something like pedophilia: the average person will be revolted by it, not encouraged, unless they already are into that kind of awful thing.
There's the possibility that watching FOO doesn't directly encourage viewers to do FOO, but serves to kind of normalize it. I think this happens a lot, but I think it takes a carefully crafted context and message.
There's the possibility that AI generated CP could actually helps children, by providing a safe outlet for pedophiles so that they wouldn't need to do heinous shit in real life. I recall reading studies that instances of (adult) rape in societies were inversely correlated with the availability of (adult) pornography, with a possible explanation being that porn provided a safe outlet for people who weren't getting the kind of sex they wanted.