On August 3, Japan’s National Police Agency announced that police nationwide during the first half of this year handled 123 cases of sexual deepfakes involving the manipulation of images of children under 18 using generative AI.
According to Jiji Press, this figure is double the 60 cases recorded during the same period last year, and exceeds the total of 114 cases for the entire previous year.
According to the National Police Agency, junior high school students accounted for the largest number of victims, with 79 cases. High school students accounted for 38 cases, elementary school students for three, and a further three cases involved victims of unknown status. Junior high and high school students together made up over 90% of the total.
Who is doing this? The police say that 83 cases involved the victims’ classmates or other students from the same school, while seven cases were perpetrated by individuals met via social media.
There were also four cases where images of children were taken without their knowledge in public places and then manipulated. By the end of June, two individuals had been referred to prosecutors, and investigations in several other cases are ongoing.
An official from the National Police Agency stated, “We intend to raise awareness regarding the illegal use of AI while also investigating malicious cases and enforcing the law strictly.”