2024/06/18
Forensic Magzine, June 14, 2024: Fake or Real? Detecting AI Images from a Forensic Lens
When explicit deepfakes of Taylor Swift flooded the internet, it was a stunning and eye-opening moment. If the biggest popstar in the world can be a victim of sexual exploitation, any of us can. The social ramifications of generative AI used for horrible acts are already here – now society must come to grips with it and lawmakers must act quickly.
It is encouraging the Department of Justice recently arresting a Wisconsin software engineer who’s accused of creating AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM), stating that since the technology learned from real images, it’s the same crime. Only about a dozen states have laws on the books with any prosecution power to go after bad actors generating this harmful, explicit material. We continue to hang our head when we hear our law enforcement partners say they brought a case to the District Attorney who told them there was no way to prosecute it.
As lawmakers wake up and quickly put laws in place that hold these perpetrators accountable, we conducted research to look at what these images look like from a forensic lens so when it is time to build a case, law enforcement will have the information they need to find the evidence necessary to hold offenders accountable. more