--- title: "Microsoft Is Suing People Who Did Bad Things With Its AI" description: "Microsoft just modified a lawsuit to name four multinational developers who allegedly bypassed safety guardrails and abused Microsoft's AI tools to generate deepfaked celebrity porn and other harmful content. The tech giant announced the update in a blog post yesterday, saying that all four developers are members of Storm-2139, a cybercrime network. Naturally, being alleged cybercriminals, the named defendants go by nicknames that sound straight out of an early-2000s hacker flick: there's Arian Yadegarnia aka \"Fiz\" of Iran; Alan Krysiak aka \"Drago\" of the United Kingdom; Ricky Yuen aka \"cg-dot\" of Hong Kong and Phát Phùng Tấn aka \"Asakuri\" of […]" date: "2025-03-02" modified: "2025-03-02" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/microsoft-suing-ai" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai" - "cybercrime" - "microsoft" - "nonconsensual deepfakes" --- # Microsoft Is Suing People Who Did Bad Things With Its AI ![Microsoft modified a lawsuit to name four people who allegedly jailbroke its AI tools to for abuses like deepfaked celebrity porn.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Microsoft just modified a lawsuit to name four multinational developers who allegedly bypassed safety guardrails and abused Microsoft's AI tools to generate [deepfaked celebrity porn]() and other harmful content. The tech giant announced the update in a [blog post yesterday](), saying that all four developers are members of Storm-2139, a cybercrime network. Being alleged cybercriminals, the named defendants go by nicknames that sound straight out of an early-2000s hacker flick: there's Arian Yadegarnia aka "Fiz" of Iran; Alan Krysiak aka "Drago" of the United Kingdom; Ricky Yuen aka "cg-dot" of Hong Kong; and Phát Phùng Tấn aka "Asakuri" of Vietnam. In the post, Microsoft breaks the individuals making up Storm-2139 into three tiers: "creators, providers, and users," who together comprise a dark marketplace hinging on the jailbreaking and modification of Microsoft's AI tools to create [unlawful]() or destructive material. "Creators developed the illicit tools that enabled the abuse of AI-generated services," reads the post, adding that the "providers then modified and supplied these tools to end users often with varying tiers of service and payment." "Finally," it continues, "users then used these tools to generate violating synthetic content, often centered around celebrities and sexual imagery." The civil suit was initially filed in December, albeit with all specific defendants listed simply as "John Doe." Now, though, in light of new evidence revealed in Microsoft's investigation into Storm-2139, it's choosing to unmask some of the alleged bad actors embroiled in litigation — others are still unnamed per ongoing investigations, according to the tech giant, though it says that at least two are American — citing future deterrence as motivation for doing so. "We are pursuing this legal action now against identified defendants," Microsoft declared in the post, "to stop their conduct, to continue to dismantle their illicit operation, and to deter others intent on weaponizing our AI technology." It's a fascinating show of force by the behemoth that is Microsoft, which understandably doesn't want bad actors abusing its generative AI tools to create obviously terrible content, like nonconsensual fake porn of real people. After all, as far as deterrents go, finding yourself in the legal crosshairs of one of the world's wealthiest and most powerful organizations is pretty high up there. To that end, according to Microsoft, the legal pressure has already worked to divide Storm-2139. According to Microsoft, the "seizure" of the group's website and "subsequent unsealing of the legal filings in January generated an immediate reaction from actors, in some cases causing group members to turn on and point fingers at one another." That said, [as *Gizmodo* notes](), the decision by Microsoft to throw its heavy legal weight against alleged abusers of its tech also lands in a bit of a gray area in the ongoing debate over AI safety and how companies should seek to limit AI misuse. Some companies, like Meta, have [chosen]() to make their frontier AI models open-source — a more decentralized approach to AI development, though one that some experts argue could allow bad actors to [quietly harness advanced AI technology]() out of view or oversight from the public (the AI industry currently pretty much regulates itself, so the concept of "oversight" in the AI industry should generally be taken with a grain of salt, though companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Google do still have to answer to the court of public opinion.) Microsoft, for its part, has [embraced more of a mixed approach](), building some models in public and keeping other models closed off from public view. Regardless of the tech giant's vast resources and [stated commitments]() to safe and responsible AI, though, criminals have still allegedly found ways to crack through its guardrails and profit from ill use. And as Microsoft, like others, continues down its all-in-on-AI road, it can't exactly count on litigation alone to quell harmful exploitation of its AI tools — especially in such a deregulated environment, where the [law itself]() is still catching up to the complexities of AI harm and abuse. "While Microsoft and others have established systems designed to prevent misuse of generative AI," [writes *Axios'* Ina Fried](), "those protections only work when the technological and legal systems can effectively enforce them." **More on AI and harm:** [*Man's Entire Life Destroyed After Downloading AI Software*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()