Two Men Charged Under New US Deepfake Porn Law

Two individuals have been indicted by federal authorities for employing artificial intelligence to produce nude images and videos of female celebrities, as per the recently implemented Take It Down Act. Cornelius Shannon, aged 51, and 20-year-old Arturo Hernandez were apprehended on Tuesday for their creation of sexually explicit AI content that garnered millions of online views. Although they do not seem to be linked, they are among the first to face legal action under the legislation signed into law by US President Donald Trump last year. This act imposes harsher penalties for distributing AI-generated deepfakes and "revenge porn," receiving bipartisan support and endorsement from first lady Melania Trump. The defendants could face a maximum of two years in prison. Joseph Nocella, the US attorney in Brooklyn, remarked that the men had "used cutting-edge digital technology to create images that degraded and violated" numerous women, stressing that "posting deepfake pornography is not a victimless crime." Legal representatives for Shannon and Hernandez have not yet provided comments.