Allegedly Told 15-Year-old Boy How to Create Similar Images, DOJ Says
By Editor Josh Mitchell
River Mississippi News
WISCONSIN – U.S. authorities Monday announced another arrest in the “epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse” with the recent apprehension of a Wisconsin man who’s charged with using a text-to-image artificial intelligence technology to “create thousands” of “hyper-realistic” depictions of young children touching themselves in lascivious ways or engaging in intercourse with men, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The suspect, 42-year-old Steven Anderegg of Holmen, a city of 55,000 between Minneapolis, Minnesota and Milwaukee, faces between 5 and 70 years in prison if convicted of the four counts of producing, distributing, and possessing the “visual depictions” as well as transferring obscene material to a minor, a news release notes.
A federal grand jury returned the indictment last week against Anderegg, who’s described in court documents as an “extremely technologically savvy” person who poses an “immense danger” to the community. For these reasons and others, prosecutors in the Western District of Wisconsin argue that Anderegg should be “detained pending trial” or at least be monitored via GPS and prohibited from having contact with minors until then.
Authorities say they have a “strong” case against Anderegg with a “trove” of images allegedly recovered from his laptop and cellphone. The AI-generated imagery allegedly generated by Anderegg is officially labeled by the DOJ as “Child Sexual Abuse Material, or CSAM.”
“Put simply, CSAM generated by AI is still CSAM, and we will hold accountable those who exploit AI to create obscene, abusive, and increasingly photorealistic images of children,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco states in the Monday DOJ news release.
Anderegg allegedly used certain “text prompts” to create AI images of nude or partially dressed “prepubescent minors” to store on his computer, officials charge. He’s also accused of explaining to a 15-year-old boy how to use AI to create such illegal images.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a “cybertip” from Instagram about Anderegg’s account, which made its way to law enforcement, according to the DOJ.
A Wednesday detention hearing is set for Anderegg, who remains in federal custody.
