The misuse of artificial intelligence does not seem to stop spreading; complex tools such as the technology in question can become powerful weapons in the hands of malicious criminals. Stable Diffusion, Midjourney and DALL-E are just some of the systems currently being used by criminals for immoral purposes.
Recently, the FBI arrested Steven Anderegg, a 42-year-old from Wisconsin, for generating images of child sexual abuse and then sending them to a minor. Through Stable Diffusion, it appears that the man was able to create ‘thousands of realistic images of pre-adolescents’ and then save them on his computer, so he could share them with his community of like-minded criminals.
This is one of the first known cases in which the FBI has charged and arrested someone for using artificial intelligence for the purpose of creating child pornography.