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MASON, Ohio (WXIX) – One Mason High School teen charged in a case involving AI-generated pornographic images has now pleaded guilty to one charge.
The 16-year-old pleaded guilty to a felony charge of pandering obscenity involving a minor on June 29, according to Warren County court records. He will be sentenced July 15.
His guilty plea comes after he was accused of using AI to create pornographic material from underage classmates’ social media photos and disseminating the images.
The teen was one of two Mason High School students arrested this past school year in separate cases involving AI-generated pornographic images.
Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell said both cases involved AI-generated pornography of other students, but only one teen was charged with disseminating the images.
A 17-year-old student at Mason was arrested and is facing over 50 child pornography-related charges. The student allegedly had AI-generated pornography but did not share it.
“Once that type of image is created and disseminated, that becomes a criminal offense,” Fornshell said.
The 17-year-old was placed on house arrest.
Fornshell said there is legislation in the works regarding AI-generated pornography, but there are still unknowns about what is real and what is not when it comes to this material.
“Any time that you have advances in technology, there is a delay in terms of law enforcement and legislators trying to figure out how do we address it, what’s the appropriate way to address it, what are the constitutional issues that exist,” Fornshell said.
Fornshell said the trend involving AI pornography is troubling.
“We put these devices in the hands of young people and adults struggle with using their phones and computers and AI tools responsibly. How do we expect a 15 or 16-year-old who has access to the world in the palm of their hands and all of these devices — how do we expect them to be able to responsibly use what we placed in their hands? So yeah, you’re gonna see more of it,” Fornshell said.
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