The Barcelona Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating two cases of preparing sexual photos of minors that were manipulated using artificial intelligence (AI) for subsequent distribution on social networks. According to the ministry, both complaints received in recent months are being investigated by the Barcelona Youth Prosecutor's Office, since the victims of the manipulation of sexual photos are minors and there is also a suspicion that the victims are minors to them.
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In the two open investigations, the authors manipulated real photos of minors using artificial intelligence until they were transformed into sexual images and distributed them via social networks. Last October, the National Police arrested a minor in Súria (Barcelona) who took pictures of other minors from the window of his house and later, using artificial intelligence programs, removed the clothes they were wearing, making them appear naked. He later shared some photos of it online.
The Public Prosecutor's Office warns of the difficulty of identifying the perpetrators of this type of crime since, as a rule, the companies responsible for the social networks in which the manipulated images are distributed are based abroad, which makes the implementation of commissions requires. Legal assistance through the courts or other judicial cooperation mechanisms.
Although complaints about the manipulation of images of adults by artificial intelligence for sexual purposes are not currently being investigated, the Barcelona Public Prosecutor's Office has noted an increase in cases of so-called revenge porn, which involves people posting photos with sexual content of their partners or exes -Use Partner -Partner. to threaten or coerce them. The Violence Against Women Section of the Barcelona Public Prosecutor's Office has noted an increase in this type of criminal activity in recent years, in parallel with the increase in the use of mobile phones and social networks: this year there were three indictments for revenge porn cases.
Cases of using images with sexual content in sexist violence are usually investigated as crimes of coercion, harassment and threats. This last crime is the one that has increased the most in the last year. The Barcelona Public Prosecutor's Office for Violence Against Women, led by prosecutor María Jesús Méndez, warns of the increase in complaints about cases of sexist violence after the pandemic, as the black figure of abuse episodes that had remained hidden due to the confinement forced the victims has emerged. Living with their attackers 24 hours a day.
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