--- title: "South Korea Sentences Man for Creating Child Abuse Images Using AI" description: "A South Korean judge has for the first time in that country's history sent down a sentence related to AI-generated child abuse images. " date: "2023-10-02" modified: "2023-10-02" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/south-korea-ai-child-abuse" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "abuse" - "image generator" - "South Korea" - "the digest" --- # South Korea Sentences Man for Creating Child Abuse Images Using AI ![A South Korean judge has for the first time in that country's history sent down a sentence related to AI-generated child abuse images. ]() *wide angle keyhole hacker \Image: Bill Hinton via Getty Images\* ## Prison Time While [courts start to grapple]() with the [dark side]() of generative artificial intelligence, a South Korean judge has for the first time in that country's history sent down a sentence related to AI-generated child abuse images. As [*CNN* reports](), an unnamed man in his 40s was sentenced to two**-**plus years in prison after being caught with about 360 exploitative AI-generated images of children earlier this year. Those disgusting images, which were thankfully not described, were reportedly not distributed. Prosecutors successfully argued before the Busan-region court that the country's definition of "sexually exploitative material" should, in the face of AI advancements, be expanded to include imagery or descriptions of "virtual humans" engaging in sexual acts. ## Deepfakes of Yore Though this appears to be the first time South Korea has had a ruling related to AI-generated explicit imagery, which in the past were often referred to as "deepfakes," it's not the country's first foray into controversy surrounding the rapidly-accelerating technology. As the country's [*Yonhap* news agency reported](), the beginning of 2021 saw hundreds of thousands of people signing an anonymously-written petition begging the South Korean government to enact stricter punishment for sites that post deepfake porn featuring celebrities, including some that are minors. The [*South China Morning Post* added]() that the petition appeared online after some secretly-captured "spycam" photos of a K-pop girl group member were manipulated and published online. "Videos featuring the victimized female celebrities are distributed on various social network services, and (they) are tortured with malicious comments of a sexually harassing and insulting nature," read the petition, per *Yonhap*, adding that deepfakes are "undeniably a sexual crime." Within a day, Yonhap reported, the petition gained more than 330,000 signatures, the news wire reported, highlighting how seriously some in the country took deepfakes. Though it's been more than two and a half years since the petition arose, South Korea appears poised to start taking threats from the tech seriously — and the rest of the world, [including the US](), may soon follow suit. **More on AI:** [*Parents Furious After Deepfaked Nudes of Daughters Circulate Around Schools*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()