Last week, the FBI announced it arrested a man who allegedly used AI to generate child sexual abuse imagery. It’s a novel case because it’s one of the first instances of the FBI bringing charges against someone related to using AI to create child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Steven Anderegg is accused of creating “thousands of realistic images of prepubescent minors” he made using AI, commissioning requests from others for more images, and sending those images to a child through Instagram. He’s also accused of abusing his son.
Whenever news about AI-generated CSAM breaks, there’s a small but persistent contingent of people who wonder: Are these images even all that bad, given that they aren’t “real” photographs of “real” children? Is it not a “victimless crime?” Could it help pedophiles avoid contacting actual minors?