SEOUL: A Chinese international student in South Korea was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Wednesday (Sept 9) for creating more than 1,100 sexually explicit deepfakes using images of seven people, including colleagues in his university research laboratory.
The Seoul Northern District Court convicted the 30-year-old of charges including habitually producing manipulated sexual images and videos in violation of the Sexual Violence Punishment Act.
The court also ordered him to complete 40 hours of a sex offender treatment programme and barred him from working for five years at institutions serving children, teenagers or people with disabilities.
Over six months beginning in November, the student used artificial intelligence to superimpose the victims’ faces onto sexually explicit images and videos, producing 1,141 files, according to the court.
Investigators also found that he had searched for ways to bypass safeguards built into Grok, a generative AI chatbot.
“The defendant repeatedly edited, composited or otherwise manipulated images of victims who studied in the same university laboratory,” Judge Kwon So-young said.
“Given the circumstances and nature of the offences, his conduct was particularly serious and warrants severe punishment.”
The defendant deposited seven million won (S$6,570) into each victim’s account with the court in an effort to compensate them, but the victims refused to accept the money, Kwon said.
The court considered in mitigation that he admitted all charges, showed remorse and had no previous criminal record. It also found no evidence that the manipulated content had been distributed.
Prosecutors had sought a three-year prison sentence, along with public disclosure of his personal information and mandatory sex offender treatment.
The court declined to order the disclosure and notification of his personal information, saying the prison sentence, sex offender registration, employment restrictions and treatment programme were sufficient to reduce the risk of re-offending.
At an earlier hearing, a lawyer representing five of the victims asked the court to impose a harsh sentence, saying they continued to suffer from fear, trauma and emotional distress. - The Korea Herald/ANN
