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submitted 2 years ago by db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/news@lemmy.world

A Florida man is facing 20 counts of obscenity for allegedly creating and distributing AI-generated child pornography, highlighting the danger and ubiquity of generative AI being used for nefarious reasons.

Phillip Michael McCorkle was arrested last week while he was working at a movie theater in Vero Beach, Florida, according to TV station CBS 12 News. A crew from the TV station captured the arrest, which made for dramatic video footage due to law enforcement leading away the uniform-wearing McCorkle from the theater in handcuffs.

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[-] TallonMetroid@lemmy.world 11 points 2 years ago

Well, the image generator had to be trained on something first in order to spit out child porn. While it may be that the training set was solely drawn/rendered images, we don't know that, and even if the output were in that style, it might very well be photorealistic images generated from real child porn and run through a filter.

[-] MagicShel@programming.dev 48 points 2 years ago

An AI that is trained on children and nude adults can infer what a nude child looks like without ever being trained specifically with those images.

[-] yesman@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago
[-] LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Yes exactly. That people are then excusing this with "well it was trained on all.public images," are just admitting you're right and that there is a level of harm here since real materials are used. Even if they weren't being used or if it was just a cartoon, the morality is still shaky because of the role porn plays in advertising. We already have laws about advertising because it's so effective, including around cigarettes and prescriptions. Most porn, ESPECIALLY FREE PORN, is an ad to get you to buy other services. CP is not excluded from this rule - no one gets free lunch, so to speak. These materials are made and hosted for a reason.

The role that CP plays in most countries is difficult. It is used for blackmail. It is also used to generate money for countries (intelligence groups around the world host illegal porn ostensibly "to catch a predator," but then why is it morally okay for them to distribute these images but no one else?). And it's used as advertising for actual human trafficking organizations. And similar organizations exist for snuff and gore btw. And ofc animals. And any combination of those 3. Or did you all forget about those monkey torture videos, or the orangutan who was being sex trafficked? Or Daisy's Destruction and Peter Scully?

So it's important to not allow these advertisers to combine their most famous monkey torture video with enough AI that they can say it's AI generated, but it's really just an ad for their monkey torture productions. And even if NONE of the footage was from illegal or similar events and was 100% thought of by AI - it can still be used as an ad for these groups if they host it. Cartoons can be ads ofc.

[-] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 43 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

How many corn dogs do you think were in the training data?

[-] Saledovil@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 years ago

Wild corn dogs are an outright plague where I live. When I was younger, me and my buddies would lay snares to catch to corn dogs. When we caught one, we'd roast it over a fire to make popcorn. Corn dog cutlets served with popcorn from the same corn dog is popular meal, especially among the less fortunate. Even though some of the affluent consider it the equivalent to eating rat meat. When me pa got me first rifle when I turned 14, I spent a few days just shooting corn dogs.

[-] emmy67@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

It didn't generate what we expect and know a corn dog is.

Hence it missed because it doesn't know what a "corn dog" is

You have proven the point that it couldn't generate csam without some being present in the training data

[-] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I hope you didn't seriously think the prompt for that image was "corn dog" because if your understanding of generative AI is on that level you probably should refrain from commenting on it.

Prompt: Photograph of a hybrid creature that is a cross between corn and a dog

[-] emmy67@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Then if your question is "how many Photograph of a hybrid creature that is a cross between corn and a dog were in the training data?"

I'd honestly say, i don't know.

And if you're honest, you'll say the same.

[-] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago

But you do know because corn dogs as depicted in the picture do not exists so there couldn't have been photos of them in the training data, yet it was still able to create one when asked.

This is because it doesn't need to have been seen one before. It knows what corn looks like and it knows what a dog looks like so when you ask it to combine the two it will gladly do so.

[-] emmy67@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

But you do know because corn dogs as depicted in the picture do not exists so there couldn't have been photos of them in the training data, yet it was still able to create one when asked.

Yeah, except photoshop and artists exist. And a quick google image search will find them. 🙄

[-] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago

And this proves that AI can't generate simulated CSAM without first having seen actual CSAM how, exactly?

To me, the takeaway here is that you can take a shitty 2 minute photoshop doodle and by feeding it thru AI it'll improve the quality of it by orders of magnitude.

[-] emmy67@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

I wasn't the one attempting to prove that. Though I think it's definitive.

You were attempting to prove it could generate things not in its data set and i have disproved your theory.

To me, the takeaway here is that you can take a shitty 2 minute photoshop doodle and by feeding it thru AI it'll improve the quality of it by orders of magnitude.

To me, the takeaway is that you know less about ai than you claim. Much less. Cause we have actual instances and many where csam is in the training data. Don't believe me?

Here's a link to it

[-] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

You were attempting to prove it could generate things not in its data set and i have disproved your theory.

I don't understand how you could possibly imagine that pic somehow proves your claim. You've made no effort in trying to explain yourself. You just keep dodging my questions when I ask you to do so. A shitty photoshop of a "corn dog" has nothing to do with how the image I posted was created. It's a composite between a corn and a dog.

Generative AI, just like a human, doesn't rely on having seen an exact example of every possible image or concept. During its training, it was exposed to huge amounts of data, learning patterns, styles, and the relationships between them. When asked to generate something new, it draws on this learned knowledge to create a new image that fits the request, even if that exact combination wasn't in its training data.

Cause we have actual instances and many where csam is in the training data.

If the AI has been trained on actual CSAM and especially if the output simulates real people, then that’s a whole another discussion to be had. This is however not what we’re talking about here.

[-] emmy67@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Generative AI, just like a human, doesn't rely on having seen an exact example of every possible image or concept

If a human has never seen a dog before, they don't know what it is or what it looks like.

If it's the same as a human, it won't be able to draw one.

[-] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

And you continue to evade the questions challenging your argument.

How was the first ever painting of a dragon created? You couldn't possibly draw something you've never seen before, right?

[-] emmy67@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Once again you're showing the limits of AI. A dragon exists in fiction. It exists in the mind of someone drawing it. While in ai, there is no mind, the concept cannot independently exist.

[-] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago

AI is not creating images in a vacuum. There is a person using it and that person does have a mind. You could come up with a brand new mythical creature right now, let's call it AI-saurus. If you ask it to create a picture of AI-saurus, it wouldn't be able to do so because it has no idea what it looks like. However what you could do is describe it to the AI and it'll output something that more or less resembles what you had in mind. What ever flaws you see in it you could correct for with a new, modified prompt and you keep doing this untill it produces something that matches the idea you had in mind. AI is like a police sketch artist; the outcome depends on how well you managed to describe the subject. The artist itself doesn't need to know what they looked like. They have a basic understanding of human facial anatomy and you're filling in the blanks. This is what generative AI does as well.

The people creating pictures of underage kids with AI are not asking for it to produce CSAM. It would most likely refuse to do so and may even report you. Instead, they're describing what they want the output to look like and they're arriving to the same end result by just using a different route.

[-] emmy67@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

You're right, it's not. It needs to know what things look like. Which. Once again, it's not going to without knowing what those things look like. Sorry dude either csam is in the training data and can do this. Or it's not. But I'm pretty tired of this. Later fool

[-] lunarul@lemmy.world 16 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

we don't know that

might

Unless you're operating under "guilty until proven innocent", those are not reasons to accuse someone.

this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2024
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