A Wisconsin software program engineer was arrested on Monday for allegedly creating and distributing hundreds of AI-generated photographs of kid sexual abuse materials (CSAM).
Court docket paperwork describe Steven Anderegg as “extraordinarily technologically savvy,” with a background in pc science and “many years of expertise in software program engineering.” Anderegg, 42, is accused of sending AI-generated photographs of bare minors to a 15-year-old boy by way of Instagram DM. Anderegg was placed on legislation enforcement’s radar after the Nationwide Middle for Lacking & Exploited Youngsters flagged the messages, which he allegedly despatched in October 2023.
Based on data legislation enforcement obtained from Instagram, Anderegg posted an Instagram story in 2023 “consisting of a practical GenAI picture of minors carrying BDSM-themed leather-based garments” and inspired others to “try” what they have been lacking on Telegram. In personal messages with different Instagram customers, Anderegg allegedly “mentioned his need to have intercourse with prepubescent boys” and instructed one Instagram person that he had “tons” of different AI-generated CSAM photographs on his Telegram.
Anderegg allegedly started sending these photographs to a different Instagram person after studying he was solely 15 years outdated. “When this minor made his age recognized, the defendant didn’t rebuff him or inquire additional. As a substitute, he wasted no time in describing to this minor how he creates sexually express GenAI photographs and despatched the kid custom-tailored content material,” charging paperwork declare.
When legislation enforcement searched Anderegg’s pc, they discovered over 13,000 photographs “with lots of — if not hundreds — of those photographs depicting nude or semi-clothed prepubescent minors,” in response to prosecutors. Charging paperwork say Anderegg made the photographs on the text-to-image mannequin Steady Diffusion, a product created by Stability AI, and used “extraordinarily particular and express prompts to create these photographs.” Anderegg additionally allegedly used “unfavorable prompts” to keep away from creating photographs depicting adults and used third-party Steady Diffusion add-ons that “specialised in producing genitalia.”
Final month, a number of main tech firms together with Google, Meta, OpenAI, Microsoft, and Amazon mentioned they’d overview their AI coaching knowledge for CSAM. The businesses dedicated to a brand new set of rules that embrace “stress-testing” fashions to make sure they aren’t creating CSAM. Stability AI additionally signed on to the rules.
Based on prosecutors, this isn’t the primary time Anderegg has come into contact with legislation enforcement over his alleged possession of CSAM by way of a peer-to-peer community. In 2020, somebody utilizing the web in Anderegg’s Wisconsin house tried to obtain a number of recordsdata of recognized CSAM, prosecutors declare. Regulation enforcement searched his house in 2020, and Anderegg admitted to having a peer-to-peer community on his pc and regularly resetting his modem, however he was not charged.
In a quick supporting Anderegg’s pretrial detention, the federal government famous that he’s labored as a software program engineer for greater than 20 years, and his CV features a current job at a startup, the place he used his “wonderful technical understanding in formulating AI fashions.”
If convicted, Anderegg faces as much as 70 years in jail, although prosecutors say the “beneficial sentencing vary could also be as excessive as life imprisonment.”