In documents submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, prosecutors say Steven Anderegg, 42, allegedly used generative AI app Stable Diffusion to generate hyper-realistic images of nude and semi-clothed children showing or touching their genitals and engaging in sexual intercourse. According to the court filing, Anderegg, a software engineer, was caught by police after he sent the images to a 15-year-old boy. The Justice Department alleges the man sent photos of “prepubescent boys displaying their erect penises in direct messages on Instagram.” Law enforcement officers seized a personal laptop, along with two cell phones, and discovered the AI app installed, in addition to special add-ons that specialized in producing genitalia. As stated in the government’s court documents, Anderegg had more than 13,000 AI-generated images “with hundreds — if not thousands — of these images depicting nude or semi-clothed prepubescent minors lasciviously displaying or touching their genitals.” Prosecutors also allege the man “cultivated an online community of like-minded offenders” who traded obscene images of minors. Last week, a federal grand jury returned an indictment with four counts related to exposing a child to harmful material and first-degree sexual assault. If convicted, he could face life in prison. Prosecutors state that this is not Anderegg’s first encounter with law enforcement over online child-exploitation crimes, and that these are not the only criminal charges related to child exploitation pending against him. “As alleged, Steven Anderegg used AI to produce thousands of illicit images of prepubescent minors, and even sent sexually explicit AI-generated images to a minor,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a statement. “Today’s announcement sends a clear message: using AI to produce sexually explicit depictions of children is illegal, and the Justice Department will not hesitate to hold accountable those who possess, produce, or distribute AI-generated child sexual abuse material.” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco vowed in the statement, “The Justice Department will aggressively pursue those who produce and distribute child sexual abuse material—or CSAM—no matter how that material was created. Put simply, CSAM generated by AI is still CSAM, and we will hold accountable those who exploit AI to create obscene, abusive, and increasingly photorealistic images of children.”Federal authorities have arrested and charged a Wisconsin man for allegedly producing and distributing artificial intelligence-generated images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
