I recently attended a conference where the lead police officer from the covert intelligence team dealing with online child sexual material gave a presentation into the new technologies being used in indecent image cases.
It was clear that Artificial Intelligence or AI is about to create a tidal wave of indecent image content. In December 2022 it was believed that there were 6 producers of AI indecent images, there are now believed to be thousands.
AI technology for indecent image creation is becoming more and more widespread and the police now admit that they can’t tell the difference between a real image and an AI created image. Therefore, AI images are often being counted and graded as real images, leading to prosecution for making, possession or distribution of category A, B and C images.
AI technology allows the user to select a picture of any child and to then convert it into a indecent image, this picture could be from a person’s own camera roll or just taken from the internet or a social media platform. With a few simple instructions the AI technology will follow instructions to turn the innocent image into a nude or sexualised image.
AI technology will also create new indecent images upon request. A user needs only to give the AI application a set of instructions for what is wanted, and the images will be created. The AI technology has no filter and the type of image that is created is only limited by the user’s imagination and instructions, which leads to indecent images being created of all categories for all ages and sexual activities that the police struggle to tell apart from real images.
For example, a user can request a picture of Boris Johnson riding a unicycle wearing underpants and the AI technology will produce an image that looks entirely real. It is clear that soon we will not be able to believe any image we see, celebrities are already being targeted for fake AI images, some of which include celebrities in sexual activity with children.
The presentation highlighted that it is very concerning that much of the AI indecent images being created includes extreme sexual activity using violence, humiliation and degradation, which can be the result of a porn addition, where a person is bored with mainstream pornography and looking for new content for the next dopamine hit.
AI applications can create new images on an industrial scale, which will result in a huge amount of new content that is indistinguishable from real images. The process is being monetised by creators offering to produce images for users at a small cost, often using photos provided by the user and following the users’ instructions for what is wanted.
It is only a matter of time before indecent AI videos with sound can also be created in the same way, with the story and dialogue directed by the user, which can include the faces of persons known to the user or celebrities.
The existing laws deal with the AI images. If the police can’t tell if the image is AI or real, it will be treated as a real image. If the police can tell it is an AI image, perhaps because the content is so unusual or extreme it couldn’t possibly be real, it would be treated as a pseudo image.
As far as the courts are concerned real and pseudo images are treated the same and suspects can be prosecuted in exactly the same way for making, possession and distribution of the images, the fact they are fake will not stop the prosecution.
I hope this short blog helps, if you need specific advice on your case, please book an appointment via my website.