Illustration from South China Morning Post.
TOKYO (AFP): Japanese police have arrested a man suspected of using generative AI to create more than 500,000 obscene images resembling women celebrities and selling them online, a police spokesman and media reports said Tuesday.
Concern is growing worldwide over the use of artificial intelligence tools for malicious purposes, including through deepfakes, which turn genuine photos, video, or audio of people into false likenesses.
Between December 2024 and May 2025, Japanese man Tetsuro Chiba allegedly "allowed internet viewers to see 14 obscene electromagnetic image files online at set prices", a police spokesman told AFP.
The 31-year-old, who is unemployed and lives in Sapporo in northern Japan, was arrested by Tokyo police on Monday "on suspicion of displaying obscene" content online, said the spokesman, who declined to be named.
Kyodo News, citing unnamed police sources, said the suspect is believed to have created more than 520,000 sexual deepfake images of some 300 celebrities, earning around 11 million yen ($70,000) by promoting the content on social media and other outlets.
Jiji Press, reporting similar details, said he had told investigators he "did it for earning money".
Several countries have recently moved to ban or take legal action against Elon Musk's X and xAI over user safety concerns sparked by their in-built chatbot Grok, which was used to create and share sexualised pictures.
Grok has said it would restrict image generation and editing to paying subscribers, and X announced it would block the feature in some countries.
The Philippines last week became the third country to ban Grok, following Southeast Asian neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia. -- AFP
