Four arrested over obscene AI images in a first for Japan say media reports

TOKYO - Japanese police have arrested four people for selling obscene images created using generative AI in the first crackdown of its kind, local media reports said on April 15.

The four, aged from their 20s to 50s, allegedly made posters featuring indecent images of women and sold them on internet auction sites, public broadcaster NHK and other outlets said, citing police sources.

Police could not immediately confirm the reports to AFP.

NHK said the suspects had used free AI software to create images of naked adult women, who do not exist in the real world, using prompts including terms such as “legs open”.

They reportedly sold the posters for several thousand yen each.

The reports said the arrests were Japan’s first for allegedly selling AI-created obscene images.

Concern is growing worldwide over the use of AI for malicious purposes including through deepfakes, which turn genuine photos, video or audio of people into false likenesses.

Around 96 per cent of deepfake videos online are non-consensual pornography, and most of them depict women, according to a 2019 study by the Dutch AI company Sensity. AFP

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