Police in eastern Spain are investigating a 17-year-old boy suspected of using artificial intelligence to create and share fake nude images of female schoolmates he intended to sell online.
A Guardia civil servant in the Rivera Alta region of Valencia began an investigation last December after a female student reported in her name that she created a social media account featuring videos generated by AI.
In a statement on Sunday, Guardia Civil said: “Photos of all the minors have appeared on this account. All of these photos have been modified from the original and manipulated to make the people in them appear completely naked.”
The same girl reported a second social media account in her name, as well as other accounts showing nude videos generated by AI, and a webpage to promote the images for commercial purposes.
After 15 other minors filed similar complaints, officials began to suspect the person behind the forged images, and the video was one of the girls' school alumni.
Police have taken up the suspect's path, according to an investigation by a website that trolls social media posts, contacts hosting companies and advertises AI image correction services.
Guardia Civil said: “The officers obtained the user and access information used on these platforms, including their IP addresses, leading to the home of one of the complainant's school alumni. They also confirmed that the email used to create the account belongs to the same person.”
Guardia Civil added that the 17-year-old is being investigated on suspicion of an unprocessed minor and that a Valencia Youth Court oversees the case.
Fifteen minors in southwestern Extremadura were sentenced to one year of probation last year after being convicted of using AI to create naked images of women they shared with WhatsApp groups.
The defendant was also ordered to participate in a class on gender and equality awareness and “responsible use of technology.”
The court said in a statement: [other minors] By taking the girl's original faces from a social media profile and overlaying images of them on the naked female body. The manipulated photos were then shared between two WhatsApp groups. ”
The Malvarna Society, acting on behalf of affected families, said the incident had an impact on the wider Spanish society. “Beyond this particular trial, these facts should reflect on the need to educate people about equality between men and women,” the association told the then online newspaper Eldiario.es.
The incident emphasized the need for proper sex education in schools, which stated that children did not learn about sex from pornography that “produces sexism and violence.”
In March, the Spanish socialist-led government said it was working on laws protecting young people online by treating internet grooming and the use of unconsensual AI-created sexual images as criminal offences.
