Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun 
(File photo)
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The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has arrested three men and a woman on suspicion of selling obscene images created with generative AI via the internet.
The proliferation of obscene fake images created by generative AI has been a concern for some time. However, this is the first time that police have cracked down on AI porn merchants.
The significance of this crackdown is that it shows that images created by AI, not just images of actual individuals, can be subject to prosecution for the crime of distributing obscene materials. The court's decision in this case will be closely watched, but the crackdown appears to be in line with accepted social standards.
Easy, Lucrative Crime
The four suspects are alleged to have created posters with obscene images and sold them on online auction sites. One of them admitted to making roughly ¥10 million JPY (about $70,000 USD) in sales in around a single year.
What is particularly concerning is how easy it was for three of the four suspects to create the obscene posters using free AI generation software, despite having no particular IT knowledge. Regrettably, the barriers to misusing AI have been lowered, even as the scope of abuse is expanding.
Lightning progress is being made in the field of generative AI. The technology has been standardized to the point where the authenticity of an AI-created product cannot be distinguished from the real thing with the human eye. Yet no special knowledge is required and anyone can use AI software.
New Laws Required
Nonetheless, measures to prevent abusive use of AI have lagged. Recently, Tottori Prefecture enacted a revised ordinance for the healthy development of young people that bans the creation and distribution of deepfake pornography.
But shouldn't it really be the national government that takes the lead in establishing such laws?
The AI-generated obscene images in this case were discovered during a "cyber patrol" by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.
Monitoring illegal activities in cyberspace is a necessary task for the police, and we would like to see the quality of their performance in this regard improve. In order for investigators to prepare themselves to do so, they will likely need AI to help with that monitoring. That is something that needs to be considered.
A Growing Threat to Society
No doubt, thanks to its ability to make many intellectual tasks easier, generative AI is destined to become indispensable to modern society. But, at the same time, there is a risk that false information that cannot be detected as such by individual human beings will be spread. Because AI is so easy to misuse for criminal purposes, users have little sense of guilt.
Crimes using generative AI creations such as images, videos, and text designed to deceive people, lie, slander, or infringe copyrights are expected to become more frequent and sophisticated in the future.
The government must recognize the current situation of AI misuse constitutes a threat disruptive to society. It must work to bring about a healthy society through both legal reform and police crackdowns.
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Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun
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