The Ecuadorian judiciary has opened an investigation into the distribution of videos created by artificial intelligence (AI) showing sexual content created from images of teenagers in a school.
The investigation was launched on Thursday after the “dissemination of images and videos altered using artificial intelligence of students at an educational institution in Quito,” the public prosecutor’s office said on x.
The alleged perpetrators manipulated photos of teenagers by associating their faces with other people’s naked bodies.
Sybel Martinez of anti-bullying program Grupo Rescate Escolar said there were “around 700 videos with sexual and erotic content,” including images of 20 to 24 students.
In Ecuador, distributing pornographic content involving children or young people is punishable by up to 16 years in prison.
The investigation follows an incident in Spain in which AI-generated images of naked underage girls were broadcast.
The emergence of AI has led to growing concern around the world about the use of this technology for malicious purposes, such as creating “deepfakes,” which are computer-generated images or videos that are often realistic and based on a real-world model.
According to a 2019 study by Dutch AI company Sensity, around 96% of “deepfake” videos online are non-consensual pornography, most of which feature women.