There’s a reason to think twice before you post a picture of your child online now that artificial intelligence, or AI, is making it all too easy to transform that photo into something very disturbing.

Recently, a Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty to having AI-generated child sex abuse material. It’s one of the state’s first convictions for a crime like this, and the Lehigh County District Attorney says a Bethlehem man altered pictures he saw on social media using AI to make two girls appear without any clothes on. In this case, the man knew the children.

“It’s just overwhelming to know that completely innocent pictures of your own children can be abused and manipulated in such a way, especially by somebody that you knew and somebody that you trusted,” Gavin Holihan, the Lehigh County district attorney, said.

It’s not uncommon for people who manipulate these images to start with pictures of real people. 

“The type of people who use this software to create nude images, they are often fixated on specific people,” Holihan said.

How does it work?

Rob D’Ovidio, a professor at Drexel University, researches cybercrime and says AI technology is advancing quickly. 

“We’re seeing criminals use them for a variety of purposes, including the creation of videos and still images that contain child sexual abuse materials,” D’Ovidio said.

D’Ovidio says there are safeguards against altering pictures on the more common AI platforms, but criminals know how to work around the system and use software that keeps them anonymous. There’s usually a fee for these underground services that many pay for with cryptocurrency, which allows them to remain anonymous.

“You can type in any prompt and it’s going to produce someone in a sexualized situation,” he said.

To better understand this technology, D’Ovidio showed CBS News Philadelphia how it works. He took a picture with CBS Philadelphia reporter Liz Crawford in the classroom at Drexel. Then, he uploaded the picture to an AI site and typed this prompt:

Put this man and woman in the photo in a bar having drinks

In less than a minute, a new picture appeared. Instead of a classroom, they’re in a bar with other people in the background. The body positions changed, and they’re holding drinks.

liz-and-professor-original.jpg

CBS News Philadelphia

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This was image was created by AI.  

CBS News Philadelphia

“Criminals are armed with these very powerful tools that could really put the images that you — the people in the images that you post in very compromising positions,” D’Ovidio said.

Earlier this year, President Trump signed the Take it Down Act, which created stricter penalties for releasing non-consensual intimate imagery, whether real or AI, but some say criminals are still ahead of the law.

“The legislative arm of the government is well behind the curve in outlawing it and protecting families and protecting children in this regard,” Holihan said.

The Bethlehem man who pleaded guilty will be sentenced in December and could face five to ten years in prison.

How to protect your family

Some recommend not sharing any photos of your kids on the internet, but if that’s too extreme for you, at least go through your social media followers and clean out your friends lists from time to time.