Kids, beware! It might seem like a harmless prank―creating someone’s nude deepfakes using artificial intelligence (AI) and posting them online―but it is anything but that. It is a crime with far reaching consequences.
Take for instance, the most recent case of two class 9 students of Delhi Public School, Bangalore North, who, with the help of an 18-year-old pre-university student, late last month created AI-generated nude images of two of their classmates and posted them on Instagram.
While one of the 15-year-old victims chose to stay silent for fear of how her parents might react, the other one had no such fear.
“I told my parents immediately. Simple, because I knew it wasn’t my fault,” the victim, also 15, told Education Post. “They had extracted an image from my private Instagram page and created nudes out of that using AI. I hadn’t done anything wrong. My only fault was probably posting my selfies on my Instagram page. I realize now that, as a minor, I should refrain from doing that.”
The girl’s parents filed a complaint with the Bengaluru Cyber Cell Unit. And the next day, on May 25, Education Post broke the story, which got picked up by all leading media houses in the country.
First, the top brass at DPS Bangalore North swung into action. They identified the culprits, embarrassed them in a town hall-style meeting, and then suspended them indefinitely.
The next day, the police picked up the two minors and after going through their phones sent them to the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), which remanded them to judicial custody for 14 days. The cops also picked up 18-year-old Jeevan Kumar, who had helped the minors create the deepfakes. Being an adult, he was sent to a regular prison, where hardened criminals are lodged, for 14 days’ judicial custody.
On June 12, the court recorded the victim’s statement. “All protocols were followed,” the victim’s mother said, explaining that her minor daughter’s statement had to be recorded privately.
“It was just the judge, the stenographer, my daughter and me. They told her (the victim) to stand in the witness box, take an oath and say exactly what she had said in her complaint to the police,” the mother told Education Post.
The accused were not present in court. They continue to remain behind bars.
A police official involved in the case said that according to the law in such cases, the two minors will get a chance to appeal for bail only after one month, 15 days of which they have already spent in a juvenile home. Jeevan Kumar, the adult accused, on the other hand, will get a chance to appeal for bail only after three months.
If at all the accused get bail, it does not mean the end of the case. Their fate hangs in the balance―the court.
The next hearing is after three months, and then again after six months. It's a long drawn out process.
A seemingly harmless prank that left two 15-year-old girls deeply hurt and embarrassed, three bright kids' lives possibly ruined for life and their families ashamed forever. It wasn't worth it, was it?
