Two Florida teens charged with distributing fake nude photos of classmates

In the US state of Florida, two high school students were arrested and charged with creating and distributing deepfake photos of naked classmates using artificial intelligence.

A deepfake is a photo or video created by a computer program that is almost impossible to distinguish from the real thing.

Police said two boys, ages 13 and 14, used an unnamed "artificial intelligence application" to create fake photos of female students aged "12 to 13 years old."

The teens were charged under a Florida law passed in 2022 that criminalizes the distribution of deepfake sexual content without the consent of the person or persons depicted in it.

Local media reported the incident after students were removed from Pinecrest Cove Academy in Miami. The teenagers were detained on December 22, 2023.

While nearly all US states now have rules regarding the distribution of sexually explicit content, few have yet passed laws that address AI-generated content to some extent.

For example, the Beverly Hills Police Department is currently investigating an incident in which students shared fake photos of their classmates. However, the state law does not directly address AI-generated content. As a result, the five teenagers involved in the incident were expelled from school.

In January, social network X had to disable searches for Taylor Swift after deepfake pornographic videos featuring the singer began to spread en masse on the social network.