We are yet to have ways to educate people on how to properly use AI tools like chatbots, which is why misuse is still pretty common across all ages. This time around the generation of a deepfake has led to an arrest.
(Photo : Getty Images)
Florida Arrest
The middle school teens were first arrested back in December 2023 and were charged with third-degree felonies for the alleged generation of deepfakes. The two were said to have created explicit images of their classmate who were between the ages of 12 and 13.
It first resulted in a simple suspension within their school at Pinecrest Cove Academy in Florida which then escalated to an arrest. This will be the first time in the US that the use of generative AI to create deepfakes have led to a criminal charge as the case was reported to the police.
The specific AI tool used hasn't been disclosed. Regardless, the 13 and 14-year-old will face consequences for their misuse, as reported by The Verge. Particularly, their crime falls under a 2022 Florida law that prohibits the dissemination of sexually explicit deepfakes without the victim's consent.
Currently, there are no federal law that addresses the spread of deepfakes, particularly those of nonconsensual deepfake nudes. The dissemination of such images is already punishable, and the situation was made worse by the fact that the subjects were minors.
With the situation at hand, US legislators might be encouraged to finally create laws that would punish such acts. Right now, only select states have laws that address the growing problem, although that doesn't stop victims from filing lawsuits.
Another teen from New Jersey, who also had a classmate sharing AI deepfake explicit images of them, sued the classmate behind the act. Other cases are also being investigated where real faces were edited onto AI-generated nude images.
Since the images were mainly created by AI, authorities are yet to decide whether it falls under unlawful possession of obscene matter featuring a minor. That's not to say that the students involved were not punished, as they have since been expelled from the school.
Read Also: Wondering If a Photo is AI-Generated? - Here's How You Can Detect Them
Arrest Over AI-Generated Fake News
This is not the first arrest in a global scale when it comes to the misuse of AI tools. A man in the Gansu province, China, has been detained for using ChatGPT to generate fake news about a train crash, which claims that nine construction workers were killed by.
The local police says that the fake article had more than 15,000 clicks on social media before it was taken down. It was published in a Baidu-owned platform, as reported by Reuters, and called for additional investigations.
It was said that the accident was reported by 25 accounts with IP addresses from different locations, all from the blog-style platform called Baijiahao. The police traced the involved accounts and eventually arrested a man surnmaed Hong.
Cyberspace Administration of China already issued regulations that have taken effect on January 10th to prevent such things from happening again, as it prohibits the alteration of facial and voice data.
Related: AI Scams are Becoming More Common: What Can We Do?
