As AI becomes increasingly mainstream and available to all, many want to push the usage of AI even further, while some are still apprehensive about using and accepting AI. Recently many legal cases have sprouted in regards to AI. Many of these lawsuits include the usage of deepfakes, chatbots, image editors & creators, etc.
Recently, the use of deepfakes has affected millions of people, many of whom have no clue that their photos are being used this way, especially women and children. Since 2020, 50 known bots have been made for deepfakes, with more than 4 million monthly users. Deepfakes are images, videos, or audio edited or generated using AI tools to depict real or fake people.
AI-Driven Criminal Activity
An example of a crime committed with AI that involved the usage of deepfakes or image manipulation is that of Hugh Nelson, a 27-year-old man residing in the UK who was arrested and pled guilty to 16 charges including 3 counts of intentionally encouraging or assisting the commission of the rape of a child under 13, in addition to 10 counts of making or distribution of indecent images and 1 count of attempting to cause a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity, leading to a sentence of 18 years.
He was using Daz 3D to change pictures of children as young as 4 into explicit images of them being physically & sexually abused. This conviction is the first of its kind in the UK with some believing this is only the beginning of cases like this emerging as technology evolves.
Cases like this have been found in the US, South Korea, and Japan some of which included minors like in the UK Case. But another issue arising from deepfakes involves the women in South Korea.
In August of his year, major protests occurred in Seoul, South Korea, since local investigations uncovered that over 220,000 people were being used to create & distribute explicit deepfakes. However, crimes of this nature aren’t new for the women of South Korea, there had already been protests in 2018 against illegal spy cameras & in 2020 with the Nth Room scandal. Ever since the creation of newer and better technology reached the mainstream audience the ease and accessibility of sexual crimes has increased.
It is important to note that deepfakes aren’t the only issues that have been brought to the mainstream attention. Chatbots have also been surging in use by Gen Z. Chatbots are AI-based software that can respond in real-time through text or audio.
Page on Character AI, courtesy of Patrick Owens on Medium Magazine.
C.AI or Character.AI. (a chatbot where the bot will respond in character or roleplay with the user) is a chatbot site that is currently being sued by Megan Garcia for causing the suicide of her son Sewell Setzer. Garcia claims that her son was deeply attached to the bot C.ai created and the bot targeted her son with “anthropomorphic, hypersexualized, and frighteningly realistic experiences.” The company programmed the Chabot to “misrepresent itself as a real person, a licensed psychotherapist, and an adult lover, ultimately resulting in Sewell’s desire to no longer live outside.” Character AI released a statement sending their condolences and stating their actions moving forward. As of now, C.AI has now put in place new features for safety. Including “changes for models for minors, improved detections & intervention, revised disclaimers, and notifications for how long sessions have been.” This lawsuit targets not only Character AI but also Alphabet’s Google, with Google being named a “co-creator.” due to its influence during C.AI’s development.
Many people side with Garcia on the lawsuit while others are questioning why Garcia didn´t do anything about her son’s internet time usage or monitor what he was doing online. Meetail Jain a human rights lawyer claimed, “If this were an adult in real life who did this to one of our young people they’d be in jail.”.
Since this is the first time a lawsuit like this is happening in the US there is no legal precedence regarding the lawsuit. People hope that the lawsuit will cause the US government and others to further regulate AI usage & performance past the laws in California, Connecticut, Louisiana & Vermont.
Featured Image: rawpixel.com on Freepik, the hand of a robot reaching for that of a human.
